SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, April 26: The School Education and Literacy Department is once again ready to change the timings of government schools in Jharkhand.
Schools will now operate from 6 am to 10.30 am. The timing will be implemented after the approval of the Education Minister and a notification from the department. In view of the heat falling in the state, for the third time in a month, the school timings are being changed.
Government schools in the city are held from 6.30 am to 11.30 am every year from April 1 to June 3. However, on April 1, the Education Department instructed the schools to take classes from 7 am to 1 pm.
Once again on April 13, the education department reduced the duration of school by one hour after heavy protests from the teachers’ unions and the deteriorating health of the children in schools.
After this schools were operated from 6 am to 12 noon. Despite changing school timings students continued to fall sick because of the heat. Due to high temperatures, there have been reports of children fainting in schools themselves.
As per experts, mid-day meals after 10 am affected the children’s health. After this, the parents’ union appealed to the government to rethink the timing of schools.
The education department has now prepared a proposal for conducting school from 6 am to 10.30 am and has sent it to the education minister for approval. This system will apply to children from classes 1 to 11.
In view of the heatwave, several private schools have also changed times from 6 am to 10 am. Meanwhile, in many schools, children’s offline classes have been stopped and online classes have been started as a better option.
After the implementation of the new schedule, teachers may have to stay till 12 pm. During this period, they will complete non-academic work in school. Teachers will also have to use biometric attendance devices.
Meanwhile, keeping the new schedule in mind, it has been decided that children of classes 1 to 8 will be given their mid-day meal at 10 am. The mid-day meal will be prepared and distributed as per the norms and guidelines of COVID.
