Cuti Sekolah di Malaysia

Vacation days....vacation daze.  Malaysia has a lot of vacation days during the school year and it often makes both scheduling replacement classes AND covering the syllabus difficult.  Just peruse the vacation days taken this year alone:

1 January - New Year's Day

14 January - Birthday, Sultan of Negeri Sembilan (for those in Negeri Sembilan)
17 January - Birthday, Sultan of Kedah (for those in Kedah)
30 January - Thaipusam (Hindu festival, all of Malaysia)
1 February - KL Federal Territory Day (for those in KL)
14-15 February - Chinese New Year (all of Malaysia; some places take a week off)
26 February - Malidur Rasul (Islamic holiday, all of Malaysia)
4 March - Birthday, Sultan of Terengganu (for those in Terengganu)
13-21 March - Public School Holiday
30-31 March - Birthday, Sultan of Kelantan (for those in Kelantan)

Oh yeah, "Let's YTRAP" on holiday

2 April - Good Friday (Christian holiday)
8 April - Birthday, Sultan of Johor
15 April - Melaka Holiday (they have no official sultan, but certainly a DAY OFF)
19 April - Birthday, Sultan of Perak (yup, Perak residents)
1 May - International Workers Day (but, NO work that day)
7 May - Pahang Holiday (called Hari Hol, literally "Holiday Day"; no apparent reason; thats for us Pahangers)
17 May - Birthday, Sultan of Perlis (residents of Perlis)
28 May - Wesak Day (Buddhist Holiday, all of Malaysia)
30-31 May - Harvest Festival (for Sabah and Sarawak, I think, not sure)
1-2 June - Gawai Dayak Festival (Sarawak)
5 June - Birthday, King of Malaysia (all of Malaysia)
5-20 June - Public School Holiday
10 July - Birthday, Sultan of Pulau Penang (Penang)
10 July - Israk and Mikraj (??, but its on the calendar!)
20 July - Hari Keputeraan Sultan Terengganu (again, Terengganu)
11 August - Awal Ramadan (beginning of Ramadan, all of Malaysia)
27 August - Nuzul Quran (all of Malaysia)
31 August - National/Independence Day (all of Malaysia)
4-12 September - Public School Holiday
10-11 September - Hari Raya Puasa or Aid-al-Fitr (all of Malaysia, most schools take a full week off)
16 September - Birthday, Sultan of Sabah
?? September - Malaysia Day (not to be confused with Independence Day on 31 August; I forgot what this day was, but it was in September and I have NO idea why it exists.)
9 October - Melaka (again) but not sure why since they have no official sultan
23 October - Birthday, Sultan of Sarawak
24 October - Birthday, Sultan of Pahang
5 November - Deepavali (Diwali), Hindu Festival of Lights (all of Malaysia)
17 November - Quran Holiday (some parts of Malaysia)
18 November - Quran Holiday (other parts of Malaysia)
20 November - 31 December - Public School Holiday
7 December - Awal Muharram (all of Malaysia)
11 December - Birthday, Sultan of Selangor
25 December - Christmas (Christian holiday, all of Malaysia)

Now, you might say "Well, not all holidays are celebrated in all states."  That is true.  But, if you have some students from, say Terengganu, they may want to go back to Terengganu for their sultan's birthday, whereas those from Johor will want to do the same, but on a different date (their sultan's birthday).  And so forth.  And if you need to contact someone in a different state during work hours, you need to check the calendar to see if THEY are on vacation that particular day.

Students are quite good about turning a one-day holiday into a one-week (or more) vacation.  Witness the latest mid-week holiday: Hari Raya Qurban, 17 and 18 November (depending upon state).  With this holiday on a Wednesday in Pahang, I had students take off on Monday of that week, and not return until Tuesday of the following week!  They used a 1-day holiday to take leave of 7 days of classes!!  Of course, they try to justify this by saying "Bus tickets were all sold out except for....".  For this reason, we lecturers prefer holidays that are on a Friday or a Monday.  It is harder for students to justify leaving on a Monday or Tuesday for a Friday holiday.  (But some do.)

But, of course, those are the OFFICIAL holidays.  How about unofficial Must-Cancel-Class directives from Administration?  We get plenty of those every year also.

"Left, right, right...no, no...right, left, left?"

Example: our "sister" school is having graduation but they want a CROWD at the event, so they make the lecturers cancel their classes and attend!  Great idea.  Or how about this? "We need to ensure that lecturers behave properly at our own convocation, so let's make them practice.  Yes, we know that they are only going to walk in and sit down.  But have them cancel classes on BOTH Thursday and Friday afternoon to practice .... walking in and sitting down!"

The December monsoon has begun.  Long live rainy weather!