Public petition n°4326

Petitioner: Alessandro Ornaghi

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To introduce a national framework allowing flexibility to parents to take up to 10 justified days of school absence (additionally to school holidays) per school year for family, cultural or travel-related reasons, subject to prior written notification to the school, without requiring its approval, and limited to a maximum of 3 consecutive school days per absence, in order to minimise disruption to children's education.

Compulsory school attendance is essential to children's education and development. However, it should also be possible to reconcile this obligation with families' legitimate needs to maintain family relationships, attend important events and provide children with meaningful cultural and educational experiences beyond the classroom. In Luxembourg, many families have close relatives living abroad. Visiting grandparents and other family members, attending weddings, celebrating important family occasions or simply spending time together may require international travel outside the official school holiday periods. Requiring families to travel exclusively during school holidays can lead to significantly higher transport and accommodation costs due to increased demand. It also restricts their freedom to organise family visits and can make certain trips financially inaccessible. This situation particularly affects families whose relatives live abroad, compared with families whose extended family lives nearby. In an international and multicultural country such as Luxembourg, children should have reasonable opportunities to maintain relationships with their extended families, discover other cultures and strengthen their understanding of their family history, regardless of where their relatives live. This proposal does not seek to undermine compulsory education or encourage unjustified absences. Instead, it aims to establish a balanced and clearly defined framework that recognises the importance of both school attendance and family life. Allowing up to 10 additional justified days of school absence per school year, in addition to official school holidays, with a maximum of 3 consecutive school days per absence, would give families greater flexibility while limiting disruption to children's learning. Parents would be required to provide prior written notification to the school, without needing to obtain its approval, subject to compliance with the established rules. This limited flexibility would help families manage their personal circumstances, reduce the financial burden of travelling exclusively during peak holiday periods and enable children to benefit from meaningful family and cultural experiences. The objective is to achieve a fairer balance between compulsory education, family life and equal opportunities, reflecting the realities of Luxembourg's international and multicultural society.