Vacation classes not summer classes

Dear Editor,

I know the warmest season of the year in the north temperate zones is summer, which is between spring and autumn. I am somewhat baffled to read or hear about summer classes being held in Guyana. Appropriately, these classes should be referred to as vacation classes. There are only two seasons here – a dry season and a wet one all through the year.

To my mind, this adjectival word ‘summer’ happens to be alien to our Guyanese tradition. Have we become copycats, forsaking our own identity? Since schools are closed during this period, students usually attend special classes to help them improve their academic performance for the beginning of the new school year in September. We should reform our thinking.

Yours faithfully,
Autry A Fernandes