After the long, long summer holiday it is finally time for the schools to open their doors once more. Locally they actually reopened last Friday, but Monday is a far more sensible day for the children to begin their new school year.

As always in Paraguay due to the high temperatures during the summer the school holidays are always several months long. The last school year ended mid November and this new one is beginning three months later in late February.

During the holidays the schools all became overgrown and untidy. So over the past couple of weeks have slowly been brought back to life with buildings being cleaned and swept and grass being cut to ensure they were ready for the arrival of the children.

After the long break the children are all looking forwards to catching up with their friends and seeing once more their teachers. No doubt also more than a few households are glad that the children have once more got something to do to fill their days.

However the classes will not keep them busy all day as schools run on a two shift system with half the children having classes in the morning and the other half in the afternoon. So school is not a full time occupation for a Paraguayan child.

The picture above shows the children and teachers at my local lower school. This covers classes from pre school up to year six. From then for the rest of the school years the children go up to a nearby upper school, or as they are known in Paraguay, a collage.

Finishing school in Paraguay is not simply a case of reaching the required age. The exams at the end of each school year, and repeating the year if they are failed. Due to this system by the time children reach collage there can be quite a mixture of ages in a class.

At the other end of the school life children begin at four of five with a year of nursery and then one of pre school to get them in the habit of learning and school life before passing on to school proper in year one.

Classes sizes vary between classes of more than 30 in the schools in town to ones that rarely reach double figures out in countryside schools like my local one. With the smaller classes everyone knows everyone and their families so the school is very much the focal point of the community.

From now until the end of the school year the schools will be open five days a week for the pupils to do their half days. There are no more long breaks during the school year, just a few days for Easter, the occasional National Holiday and a two week winter break.

The only other days that are lost are due to teachers meeting days and rain. Schools do tend to close on a rainy day.

But for now everyone is back to their books and blackboards.