Half an hour increase in school timings for high school students
High school class timings in the new academic year will be extended by half an hour on working days except for Fridays.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the quality improvement programme (QIP) monitoring committee that was presided over by Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty here on Friday.
The meeting was held to decide the academic calendar for the new session that begins on Monday.
The half an hour extension is intended to achieve the target of 1,200 instructional hours a year for high school classes as stipulated in the Right to Education Act.
There will be 204 working days for high school classes in the year. These include six Saturdays that do not count as sixth working day of a week.
A decision on whether the half an hour increase in timings will be implemented in the morning or the afternoon will be taken at the department level.
Saturdays will not be working days for lower primary classes (Class I to IV) as 800 hours of instruction is enough for them.
For upper primary classes that require 1,000 hours, two Saturdays that do not count as sixth working day in a week will be counted as working days.
An order in this regard will be issued soon.
Last year, the government had published a 220-day academic calendar that included 25 Saturdays as working days. However, the High Court had quashed the decision and directed the government to examine the issue again. A five-member expert committee had submitted a report to the government in which an increase in school timings by half and hour was one of the most significant recommendations. It had also proposed a five-day school week.
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