Holiday list for academic year 2025 published

Kolkata: The West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) has published the holiday list for the academic year 2025, which includes only nine days of summer vacation for primary schools.

According to the list, the summer vacation will begin on May 2 and end on May 12. This is a significant reduction compared to the 2024 summer break, which was originally scheduled for 19 days but was extended by the state government to April 22 to June 10 due to weather conditions, totalling nearly one-and-a-half months.

In addition to the shortened summer break, the holiday schedule includes a 25-day Puja break, a 10-day increase from this year, running from Durga Puja through to the day after Bhatridwitiya (Bhai Dooj). In 2024, the Puja break was split into two segments: 11 days from Durga Puja to two days after Lakshmi Puja and another four days from Kali Puja to the day after Bhatridwitiya.

Teachers’ associations have expressed concerns over the reduced summer break. Goutam Pal, president of the WBBPE, explained that the summer break has been reduced to accommodate the continuous Puja break. “We received several requests to extend the Puja break into a continuous period.

As a result, we increased the number of Puja break days. With a total of 65 holiday days, we had to shorten the summer break,” he said.