You write (Encouraging women to work, TMID, 25 June) that more women could decide to take up full-time jobs if the number of school hours per day is increased and if the number of school holidays is reduced.

I agree with both. I am a mother who has a full-time job. I finish work at 5pm, and although my children are now old enough to take care of themselves, there were times when I could not leave them on their own and therefore had to work part-time, in the mornings.

This enabled me to be home before they arrived back from school. I therefore understand the plight of those women who would like to work full-time, and yet cannot do so because schools finish at 2.30pm or thereabouts.

It would be ideal if schools had to remain open till 5pm every day. Lessons should still finish at 2.30pm, but this extra time could be used either for the students to do their homework or else for other activities that do not fit in the normal schedule because there is no time for them – which could include, drama, art, sport and dance.

The children could be supervised by their own teachers, who could stay on at school to correct classwork or homework, and help students who find themselves in difficulty with their homework. It is as simple as that.

As for school holidays, I think our students have too many of them. One may argue that it is impossible to continue going to school in the hot Maltese summer. There is a solution for this too: air-conditioned classrooms.

A one-month holiday in summer, 10 days at Christmas and a week at Easter would be enough for our students to take a break from school. It is only by having more and longer schooldays that more women will be able to enter the workforce.