Summer vacation lasts eight weeks each year, from the beginning of July to the beginning of September. But this could well change, as Emmanuel Macron and the Minister of National Education would like.
In France, summer vacations are the longest of the year : a big two-month break eagerly awaited by the students, who can finally swap their school notebooks for swimsuits! But in recent years, public debate has become very lively around the idea of shortening the summer holidays, considered too long for some. Government authorities, teaching staff, parents or even students… No one seems to agree.
What are the dates for summer vacation in 2026?
This year, summer vacation will begin on Saturday July 4, 2026 for all school children, and will end with the start of the school year on Tuesday September 1, 2026.
Should the summer vacation be shortened?
In politics as around a family meal, the subject continues to be debated: do French children have too many school holidays? Many people, in fact, think that France is one of the countries offering the most leave to its young students. Emmanuel Macron himself had declared that he wanted “open discussion” with government authorities, with the aim of shorten children’s summer breakin exchange for lighter course days throughout the rest of the year.
In February 2026 on RTLthe Minister of National Education in turn estimated that the duration “ideal” a long vacation would be “4, 5 or 6 weeks” to avoid too much loss of learning. On the other hand, Edouard Geffray clarified not to be “able to change the rhythms for the start of the 2026 school year“. Summer vacations should therefore not be reduced until at least the 2027-2028 school year, if the future government decides to apply this change. Yet, despite persistent beliefs, France is far from having the longest summer holidays compared to its European neighbors.
Which country has the most summer vacations?
According to figures from the European Commission, it is the Italians who have the most summer holidays with no less than 97 daysor 13 weeks. We then find Latvia, Malta, Albania, Greece, Turkey, and even Lithuania. It turns out that France only arrives at 27th place in the ranking of European countries with the longest summer holidays! In fact, our students have 56 days, or a duration of 8 weeks, which happens to be lower than the European average of 9.2 weeks.
On the other hand, regarding the short holidays scattered throughout the rest of the year, it is true that France beats all records. We are in fact the country with the most days off outside the summer period : 67 days in total. But taking the total number of school vacation days (both large and small), we come in seventh place with our 112 days per year.
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