Reconsider new school timings
Siddesh Lawande
The department of education has issued a circular to all schools and higher secondary schools in the State regarding extension of their timing by half an hour. This action of the department needs to be condemned by school managements and the PTA.
In Goa there is no proper infrastructure in schools and HSSs with regard to toilets, water supply, play grounds, safety aids and transportation.
Has the department realized what will be the plight of small children of five to eight years studying from standard I to IV? Will they be able to take the strain of such hours without the proper facilities?
Normally, parents who are working in government and private firms drop their wards at 8 o’clock to their schools and pick them at 1 o’clock, which also coincides with the parents’ lunch break. But with the implementation of the new timings, their schedule will get disrupted.
Secondly, most schools and HSSs in Goa run in two sessions ~ the school operates in the morning session and the higher secondary in the evening. How will these institutions manage? Will there not be a mismatch of timing in both?
Thirdly, there are no buses plying in some rural and urban areas to take wards back to their destination at this new timing. If children reach home at 2 o’clock, what about their home work? By the time they reach home, they will be so tired and drained, especially the smaller children, that they will not have the spirit and vigour to do their given home work for the next day. Moreover, their lunch timing will also get disrupted.
For a healthy mind and body, children also need a certain amount of rest. The department has totally ignored this aspect.
Fourthly and lastly, now there is a common practice among parents to send the wards to private tuitions and extra classes. How will children cope?
I personally do not see any valid reason why the education department has come out with this tangled idea without looking at the pros and cons of the problem.
Moreover, the department should lay more stress on text books which have still not reached the schools, even after a lapse of 10 working days, rather than such imprudent and maladroit experiments on children, who are said to be the future of the country.
