Who decides school holidays in India?
The regular vacation calendar and an emergency closure take different routes to a school's notice.
Who Decides?
Delhi's education directorate set the main breaks for schools covered by its 2025–26 circular. The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education sent a model 2026 holiday list to schools it recognises, while Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan's Mumbai region published 2026–27 breaks for its schools. Those routes depend on which school a child attends. The dated examples explain how holidays are decided; they are not a current notice for any particular family.
Start by distinguishing a planned break from a sudden closure. For a planned break, the relevant education department, board or school network sets the calendar or its rules; the school then tells families the dates that apply to it. For an emergency, an authorised education or disaster-management official may issue a separate order for particular schools and places. The school's type and location determine which notices apply.
Who sets the regular calendar?
State or Union territory education authorities commonly set the main breaks for schools they run. Their instructions can also cover aided and recognised private schools when an order says so. In Delhi's 2025–26 circular, the Directorate of Education specified summer, autumn and winter breaks for the government, aided and recognised unaided private schools it addressed. It allowed heads of those schools to plan certain additional restricted or special days, with the approvals and working-day minimum described in the circular. Schools therefore had some choice over additional days, within the circular's conditions. Delhi Directorate of Education, 4 December 2024.
West Bengal's secondary board sent its Model Holiday List 2026 to recognised government, sponsored, aided and private unaided schools under that board. It called the document a model list for those schools; the notice does not set the calendar for a school under another board or network. West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, 9 December 2025.
Kendriya Vidyalayas use vacation schedules published by KVS, the central network that runs them. A Hyderabad region instruction for 2025 also directed principals to prepare their school's list of seven restricted holidays. CBSE affiliation alone does not mean the exam board chooses every vacation date. CBSE's affiliation rules assign duties to the school and require it to follow applicable Centre, state or Union territory education law.
Who can close schools during an emergency?
An emergency order can interrupt a planned calendar. On 2 June 2025, the Siaha District Disaster Management Authority in Mizoram ordered all schools in Siaha district closed on 3 June after heavy rain and a forecast of more. Its order cited powers under the Disaster Management Act. That one-day order illustrates a district authority's emergency role; it does not give every district official control over the annual calendar. Siaha district order; Disaster Management Act.
For a new closure, read the order's dates and the places, schools or classes it covers. Then compare it with the school's current notice. A local order can change the dates a family follows without rewriting the annual calendar.
Planned breaks and emergency closures follow different routes (simplified). Check which schools, places and dates each notice covers.
What limits these decisions?
For elementary education, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act sets annual minimums of 200 working days and 800 instructional hours for Classes I–V, and 220 days and 1,000 hours for Classes VI–VIII. The Act does not list national festival or vacation dates. Those figures apply to Classes I–VIII, not secondary classes. Delhi's circular explicitly places its additional school holidays within the working-day minimum.
The Act also makes the Union and state governments share responsibility for the funds needed to carry out its elementary-education duties. A holiday circular or district hazard order sets dates for the schools it covers; it does not itself allocate those funds. Schools must still plan teaching time within the rules and resources that apply to them. RTE Act, section 7 and Schedule.
To check a particular child's next holiday, start with the school's dated notice. Then check the relevant education department, board or KVS schedule, and any later local order if a closure is announced. The effective date, place and kind of school named in a notice matter more than a generic office-holiday list.