TEAM HERALD
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
PANJIM: Students will now have to spend a minimum of five and a half hours at school each working day, excluding the recess, a new circular issued by the Directorate of Education has decreed. Though the extended hours will be implemented from Thursday, the department has agreed that schools may take some time to implement this new routine.
Earlier, schools had to mandatory five hours of teaching and a 15 minute recess between classes. Though the hours have increased the department expects that the number of periods will remain the same.
Deputy Director of Education Anil Powar told Herald that the directions to the schools were clear that there should be a minimum of five and a half hours exclusive of recess and this would begin in right earnest from today June 13.
“How the schools choose to adjust their timings to fit the new requirements is up to the schools,” Powar told Herald. “Some schools may take some time to implement this. The circular has been sent,” he stated.
As per the new common annual calendar, which has been agreed upon by the board, to mandatorily have a minimum of 237 working days and 220 instructional days as announced earlier.
The recommendation to increase the number of school hours was taken at a meeting of officials and educationists who felt that while schools could not be made full day in view of limitations due to infrastructure, the school hours would have to be extended to help teachers complete the portion especially in view of the extra effort they would require to put in, on account of the Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation.
The new timings are not likely to affect most schools that run in the morning but, they are likely to affect the schools that run in the afternoon. If a school starts at 2 pm it is unlikely to finish before 8 pm and have serious implications for safety of students who will be leaving school after dark.
Currently most schools run from 8 am till around 1.30 pm with a fifteen minute recess at around 11.
In all likelihood, schools would accommodate the increased half an hour by increasing the duration of six periods by five minutes.
