Pupils in Edinburgh could get a day off school for the World Cup bank holiday in June, if councillors agree.
The Scottish Government proposed the bank holiday on 15 June to recognise Scotland playing in the men’s World Cup in the USA.
Each council has the responsibility to determine whether or not the day is a public holiday for its own purposes – which includes the running of schools.
In a report, officers state that closing schools on the bank holiday would mean the city would have to ask the Scottish Government for an exemption from the 190 day school year.
They add that alternative arrangements would need to be put in place to ensure young pupils can get their legally-mandated 1,140 hours of early learning and childcare for the year.
Officers make no recommendations to councillors in the report, and add that essential services in the council would continue to run if the council took the day as a holiday.
But they do note that it could cost the council about £350,000 in lost productivity and other costs.
The report also summarises the positions other councils have taken, with Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee all having agreed to mark the day as a holiday.
Several smaller councils, including East Lothian and Midlothian, have elected not to take it as such.
Further, the report states that, if the holiday is granted, it could have an outsize impact on children and older people with the closure of libraries and similar spaces.
And it also notes that closing schools on the bank holiday would mean no free meals would be available for pupils.
By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter
