WBBSE cuts summer vacation to 6 days in 2026

Kolkata: The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education has fixed a six-day summer vacation for 2026, drawing objections from several teachers’ organisations.

According to the model holiday list published on Tuesday, the break will run from May 11 to 16 for all state-run junior high, secondary and higher secondary schools. In 2025, the prescribed duration was 11 days, but preponement and extension in response to weather conditions stretched the break to nearly a month. Teachers’ bodies said the sharp cut in 2026 would create operational and academic difficulties.

Chandan Garai, secretary of the All Post Graduate Teachers’ Welfare Association, said: “A six-day summer break is neither practical nor reasonable.” Saudipta Das, secretary of the Collegium of Assistant Headmasters and Assistant Headmistresses, added: “A six-day summer break in a country with such severe heat is impossible to justify.

We have said repeatedly that 65 total holidays cannot accommodate the needs of schools. Cutting the summer recess to six days is absurd. If this continues, what next—a six-hour vacation?”

Kinkar Adhikari, general secretary of Shikshanuragi Aikya Mancha, said the earlier system gave schools more flexibility. He said schools needed the earlier allotment of around 85 holidays to adjust leave to local conditions and that a six-day break could not meet academic or administrative needs.

A board official said the holiday ceiling guided the decision. The increase in government-declared holidays had to be accommodated within the 65-day limit, the official said, and this led to the reduction in the summer break.