autumn holiday, usually in February and October respectively. Finally, the schools are closed from just before Christmas until just after New Year. Estonia In Estonia, summer holidays last for three months from June to August. Christmas holidays last for two weeks, autumn and spring holidays are each one week. In 2016, the Estonian Ministry of Education decided to add a new holiday, starting from 2017, to balance the learning weeks. There are going to be 5 holidays: Autumn holiday (21- 29 October), Winter Holiday (23 December- 7 January), a new holiday (24 February- 4 March), Spring holiday (21 April- 1 May) and Summer holiday (12 June- 31 August). Summer break starts 1 week later. France French school holidays are scheduled each year by the Ministry of Education. This can lead to overcrowding in tourist resorts such as the Mediterranean coast and the ski resorts. To alleviate this problem, the holiday schedules are staggered by dividing the country into three zones. Despite these measures, the synchronized school holiday schedules still cause some crowding effects, as families head to popular holiday locations all at the same time. This can result in price increases and availability problems in some locations during the school holiday periods. Holidays are divided into three separate zones except for the first two holidays: All Saints and the Christmas / New Year. Germany In Germany, ~75 week days of the year are school-free days. The exact dates are chosen by each of the 16 states, often in consultation with each other for reasons of planning and traffic management. The usual holiday blocks are: Christmas (~2 weeks), Easter (~2 weeks), Summer (6 weeks), Autumn (~2 weeks). Depending on the state, further holidays can be around Pentecost or in winter between the first and the second half of the school year. Greece In Greece, there are three breaks throughout the school year at public schools. Summer holidays run from June to September. Holidays begin between June 10 and 20, and end around September 11. Christmas holidays begin around December 23 and end around January 8 (about 2 weeks). Easter holidays last 2 weeks from Lazarus Saturday to Thomas Sunday (according to the Orthodox calculations) There are also three 1-day national holidays: October 28, March 25 and November 17. Ireland The dates for the start and the end of the school year at both primary and post-primary level are not fixed, but