With what sanction a doctor from Switzerland was chosen because he made his children missing a day from school. “I felt like a great criminal”

After a divorce and to recharge her batteries, an anesthetist from Switzerland decided that her four children should miss a day from the courses, on the last day of school before the summer vacation, and to leave with them a day earlier. However, it is an illegal practice in both Switzerland and France. Initially convicted to pay 2,000 francs to the school, a court decision, however, reduced the fine to 100 francs for each child. In any case, there were expensive absences, writes Le Figaro.

In July 2024, Amina Ghulaam, a doctor from Majerfeld, a city from the Grisons canton in Switzerland, went on vacation to Canada with his four children, all the primary school students, who are on their last school day. The 46 -year -old anesthesiologist separated from the father of his children in 2021 and divorced in 2023. She obtained the custody of the two sons and his two daughters, while the father keeps custody every two weekends, reports News.ro citing Le Figaro.

“We went through a very difficult time,” said Amina Ghulam for the Swiss daily Blick. She explained that she wanted to make a bigger trip last summer. “My children had never climbed on a plane and I needed a break after all the stress caused by separation,” she explained, adding that she chose to go to Canada.

In order for the tickets to be cheaper and because her children had never lost a lesson, the mother reserved air tickets for a flight on the last day of school. “I have only four weeks of holiday a year and I wanted to take full advantage of them,” she justified. “I never thought we would have this day,” the doctor added.

“It's completely exaggerated”

However, leaving at that time, Amina Ghulaam violated the rules of the Graubünden School Association on absences, which stipulate that “Joker Days”, which allow students to take a few days a year without giving a particular justification, are not allowed just before the summer vacation.

A few weeks later, Amina Ghulaam had the unpleasant surprise to receive a letter from the school board of which he was imposed a fine of 500 Swiss francs for each child for absences, ie a total of 2,000 Swiss francs. The Board of Directors of the School has justified the high cost of the fine by the fact that this “should not be lower than the economies made by a cheaper flight”-an amount that, according to the Council, is in accordance with the current practices.

“He is completely exaggerated,” my mother cried in the testimony to the Swiss daily, “I simply cannot let this happen to me. I felt like a great criminal,” she said.

Given that fines for such absences are much smaller in neighboring communes, she appealed. When the school decided to maintain its fine, the case returned to the canton, which reduced the fine to 100 francs per child, “taking into account all the circumstances.” The school did not appeal against the court's decision.

What the legislation says in France

Although some French parents also resort to this practice, forcing their children to be missing from school without a valid justification is illegal, because the presence at school is mandatory for children between the ages of 3 and 16. Article L131-8 of the French Code of Education provides that “when a child is currently missing from hours, the responsible persons must inform the director of the educational unit without delay on the reasons for this absence.”

The legitimate reasons to excuse an absence are “the child's disease, (o) transmissible or contagious disease of a family member, (o) solemn family meeting, (a) impediment resulting from the accidental difficulty of communication or (o) the temporary absence of the responsible persons when the children follow them.”

“If you continue, after a warning from Dasen (the academic director of the national education services, do not ask your child to go to school and if you do not justify the absence of your child or incorrectly motivate the absence, risk a fine of 750 euros,” the French public service website shows.

If these unjustified absences compromise the education of the child, the legal representatives of the child risk up to two years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros.