The winter vacation in schools starts on December 24 and ends on January 9, Info-Prim Neo reports. The head of the General Division of Education, Youth and Sport Tatiana Nagnibeda-Tverdohleb Monday said that the last day of the first semesters, December 23, is a full workday. She also said that a number of activities dedicated to the winter holidays have been planned for the last week of the semester. But the students will be unable to celebrate with candies, especially cakes, as they were banned in order to avoid cases of poisoning. As to kindergartens, they will work according to the ordinary program, without vacation. According to Tatiana Nagnibeda-Tverdohleb, the attendance rate in the period is lower, event twice lower, because many parents prefer to leave the children at home with the elder siblings or to take them to the grandparents. There are more than 77,000 school students in the municipality of Chisinau.