In a blow to the government, the pro-Left Kerala School Teachers’ Association (KSTA) has said the announcement of the academic calendar for the 2023-24 session in a unilateral manner without adequate discussions is unacceptable.
The KSTA’s reservations come in the wake of strong protests by organisations affiliated to the Opposition against the calendar that slashes summer vacation days to increase the instructional days in the year.
The academic calendar had given rise to many apprehensions and criticisms, the KSTA State committee said in a statement on Saturday. Issues that were not discussed at a meeting of representatives of teachers’ organisations had now come out as decisions of the General Education department through the academic calendar.
The KSTA said any changes in the education sector should be implemented through discussions and taking the teacher organisations into confidence.
As per the Right to Education Act and the Kerala Education Rules, a student should get 800 instructional hours in a year in primary school, 1,000 hours in secondary, and 1,200 hours in higher secondary school. As the primary section got 200 working days, with each working day of five hours each at present, there was no need to make Saturdays working for them.
Earlier, Saturdays were converted into working days by ensuring that there were no six consecutive working days only after discussions with teachers’ organisations. Instead of continuing the practice, the announcement of the calendar in a manner that created unnecessary controversies should have been avoided, the KSTA said without mincing words.
Schools were given holidays on Saturdays so that teachers got enough time to plan the next week’s lessons, and students could revise what they had been taught that week. This was the reason why higher secondary and vocational higher secondary wings that used to function six days began working five days a week. The teaching community should be nudged towards the goal of ‘adequate time, effective learning.’
Instead of controversies, an academic calendar that was based on scientific study and thought and amended after discussions with teacher organisations, should be implemented, KSTA general secretary N.T. Sivarajan said in the statement.
