Postpone mid-week public holidays to weekends

A lawmaker has called for attaching public holidays to weekends, in case they fall in the middle of a working week, in a bid to enhance productivity.

The MP claimed that this would enhance public institutions’ productivity, adding that “a high absence rate of 40 to 50 per cent was recorded among government employees and students on the working days that fall between public holidays and weekends.”

MP Adel Al Assoomy submitted a proposal to the Council of Representatives’ Speaker Ahmed bin Ibrahim Al Mulla yesterday, proposing a system that attaches public holidays occurring in the middle of the week to weekends.”

“Many absence cases were reported among employees and students in the public sector during the past few years, precisely on working days between public holidays and weekends or other holidays. This halts the services provided by these institutions and has a negative impact on their productivity,” the lawmaker pointed out.

“Most of these holidays are not predetermined, as they’re announced in accordance to the lunar calendar. They are mostly religious occasions that have no fixed timings. Applying the suggested system would benefit the productivity and would have positive social and economic effects,” he explained.

“It will serve the goals set by the government to enhance productivity and achieve sustainable development,” added the MP, “Attaching mid-week holidays with weekends would eliminate absence issues and halting governmental work.”

The proposal will be referred to the concerned parliamentary committee for further study, before it could be openly voted by the remaining members of the council.