A direction of the Director of General Education to achieve 220 academic days in the coming year has stoked controversy.
A meeting of the Quality Improvement Programme (QIP) monitoring committee here on Monday afternoon to discuss the 220-day school academic calendar saw some teachers’ organisations voice their opposition to the move. The meeting was convened by the Director of General Education (DGE).
The government wanted Saturdays in the coming academic year to be made working days. The proposal was put forth by the DGE. It was suggested that 200 days would be for academics and 20 days for examinations. For this, Saturdays would have to be made working days. However, teachers’ unions affiliated to the Opposition flayed the move.
The Kerala Pradesh School Teachers Association pointed out that the Right to Education Act stipulated 200 working days (1,000 hours). The decision to have Saturdays as a working days, particularly Saturdays that are the sixth working day, could not be accepted.
Some other organisations also opposed the move.
Taking note of the dissension, the DGE said the organisations’ opposition would be communicated to the General Education department, and only after the QIP met again would the calendar be announced.
However, the Kerala School Teachers’ Union welcomed the move to have maximum working days.
The department has of late been pressing the need to achieve maximum working days in the academic year. At present, even 200 working days are not achieved.
The KPSTA demand to conduct the LSS, USS scholarship examinations in February was accepted and included in the calendar.
To avoid problems arising from conducting public examinations along with the year-end examinations of classes I to IX, a one-day workshop would be held in January.
The DGE assured the organisations that issue of enhancing mid-day meal fund and distributing uniform fund would be brought to the attention of the government.
Remuneration for valuation of SSLC and Plus Two answer scripts would be paid in two days, the organisations were told.