Schoolchildren in the city may get to enjoy a prolonged winter vacation this season. Though private schools generally break for holidays for a week or 10 days at the end of the year, the Directorate of Education (DoE) issued a circular on Tuesday advising them to stay shut from December 26 to January 15 this time. All government schools are already scheduled to be closed for vacations during this period. “Winter sets in late and its intensity increases in January. So all unaided recognized schools are advised to follow the schedule of winter break as specified for government schools,” the circular stated. By Tuesday evening, most schools were still undecided if they would follow the government advisory. Many schools also felt that extra holidays resulted in an unnecessary loss of working days. D R Saini, principal, DPS R K Puram, said, “We will discuss the matter with our management on Wednesday and take a decision accordingly. We will follow the government guidelines with the approval of our management if they are in the interest of our students.” The school is otherwise scheduled to remain closed from December 31 to January 8. At Modern School, Barakhamba Road, holidays will start from January 1 to 10 as of now. Principal Lata Vaidyanathan said, “As cold conditions worsen in January, we have already moved the start of our vacations from December 25 to January 1.” Some schools may not have to alter their calendar much as their schedules match the governments. Ashok Pandey, principal, Ahlcon International School, Mayur Vihar, said, “For last two years, most private schools have been starting their winter vacation from January 1 that often continues till mid-January. But we will take a look at DoE’s advisory and then decide.”