Teachers and students are now enjoying a holiday from their work and studies, since the end of the school year in July. Although the official school calendar runs through the end of month, most schools close earlier, once final exams are taken and scored. Last Sunday's national election, which employed many teachers and school directors, is also presumed to have contributed to this year's early school closures. In many cases, SCC-supported schools were among the only schools in their clusters open the last two weeks of the month.

Although teachers and students are on school holiday, their work continues in a different setting -- the rice fields. August and September is the uprooting and replanting season.

Registration for the 2009-10 school year will start on September 15. Classes resume in early October.