Goa heading for full-day schools

Updated on: Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Goa is preparing to implement full-day schooling from the academic year starting June 2012.

The state has been left with no option with the Union government's deadline to implement provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, coming to an end in April 2013 and as efforts to seek relaxations for Goa h yielded no results.

Sources said that the wheels have been set in motion to extend schooling by two-and-a-half hours in Goa to avoid facing the Union government's wrath, when the RTE implementation deadline expires at the end of the 2012-13 academic year.

Confirming the development, education director Anil Powar said, "With RTE implementation deadline expiring in 2013, we will have to begin implementation of all provisions of the RTE Act, including full-day schooling, from the new academic year. It is a law and we will have to abide by it. If we do not implement it, we can be dragged to court."

The extension of school hours is being vehemently opposed by teachers in Goa, who feel there is no need for longer school hours when the curriculum is being efficiently covered under the present system. But officials feel that teachers have no reason to refuse obeying orders to work for extended hours especially after the recent salary hike granted to them.

"The part B scales, as provided for under the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations, were implemented for teachers in September this year with implementation of full-day schooling in mind. The teachers will be putting in extra hours and this was to be an incentive for them," official sources said.

Of the various provisions of the Right of Child to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, schooling in Goa will be most affected by the clause that makes seven-and-half hours of schooling mandatory.

Goa schools presently follow a five-hour schooling system and implementing the RTE provision will mean shifting from half-day schooling with half-an-hour break to full-day schooling with a one-hour interval.

The state government was in talks with Union government officials to seek relaxations on this front for Goa schools. Goa had also sought exemption from shifting to the RTE requirement of primary section covering classes I to V and upper primary section including classes VI to VIII. Goa wants to continue with its present system of classes I to IV as primary section and classes V to VIII as upper primary section. The state has not received favourable response yet.

Times of India

Goa heading for full-day schools

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