TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: For the third year in a row, the Goa government has decided to continue with five and half hours of schooling spread over 200 instructional days for the coming academic year 2015-16, leaving teachers in quandary over how to utilize the additional hours which is far more than laid down in the Right to Education (RTE) Act.
Several teachers have come together to approach Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, who holds the education portfolio, to roll back the hours of work to five.
A senior government teacher from Bicholim said they deserved some relief in the coming academic year, for the current situation is proving tedious not only to teachers but students as well. “Once it is 1 pm, students become restless. They lose their concentration because of hunger. Recess break of 15-20 minutes barely helps them in comparison to five and half hours of study time,” he said.
Like this year, the coming year will see all schools extending the first six periods to 40 minutes each.
“The major problem lies with the primary schools because as per the RTE, the number of instructional hours should be not less than 800 hours while our education system has made it 1,100 hours,” another teacher rued.
The circular issued by the Education Department ensured minor changes such as revising number of working days for primary, secondary and higher secondary to minimum 236, which is one day less than 237 working days in the present calendar.
It has also given heads of schools the authority to declare four discretionary holidays – adjoining to public holidays for Ganesh Chaturthi – out of the total eight, which was reduced to three this ongoing academic year. The remaining discretionary holidays are to be decided in consultation with the PTAs and village education committees.
A teacher of a Panjim-based school said that reducing the working days for teaching staff by one day does not make any difference. “The changes in the working and teaching hours since the last couple of years have been very strenuous to many. Not only have we to work 236 days but also ensure 1,100 plus instructional hours,” she said. The RTE, on the other hand, states that secondary schools are required to complete 1,000 instructional hours.
Teachers especially face exhaustion as they have to give their attendance for 236 days covering other days than conducting classes such as result day, picnic, correction of examination papers, etc.
The circular also maintains the school term exams will have to be held only after completion of 200 instructional days. The government has also released the academic schedule for 2014-15 with the first term set to begin from June 4 and go on to November 17, 2015 while the second term would begin on November 27 and end on April 30, 2016.
Likewise Diwali vacations would be from November 9 to 26, 2015 Christmas vacations from December 23, 2015 to January 1, 2016 and summer vacations from May 2, 2016 to June 4, 2016.
The teachers also demand increasing the number of vacation days.
