Roughly 200.000 British parents have declared themselves against education secretary Michael Gove’s ban on term-time holidays, whether individual or through school travel companies.

The controversial measure was brought up earlier this year, and immediately caused an uproar amongst a majority of families with school-aged children. Many of these parents claimed that the measures being endorsed by Gove and his fellow MPs were a breach on the human right to family life, and claimed to want a say in the matter of when and where their children took holidays — either under the governance of school travel companies or independently.

A group of families in particular chose to take matters into their own hands and started a petition actively combating Gove’s proposed bill. It is behind this document that the roughly 200.000 parents across the British Isles have rallied, with the aim of getting the ruling judicially revised and hopefully made null and void.

Despite its controversial nature, this campaign has already met with the support of at least one Member of Parliament, as the families led by a Bath mother of three were vocally endorsed by John Hemming, a Liberal Democrat MP who has himself campaigned to open family courts.

To counter the argument that they are taking their children out of school only so that they can spend less on their holiday breaks, the parents supporting the petition have stated that some families have stronger motives for requesting a few days’ break for their children. Family groups attending weddings and funerals, as well as those advised by doctors to take a break for health reasons, are being painted with the same brush as ‘skivers’, which the parents think is entirely the wrong approach.

According to the new bill, parents who take their children abroad during term-time without the school’s permission face a £60 fine per parent, per child. This is to combat recent figures which show roughly 24.000 children miss school every day for the purposes of a holiday break.

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