Teachers will spend 15 hrs extra each week in school

Updated on: Thursday, March 03, 2011

Maharashtra’s guidelines for the Right to Education (RTE) Act have increased the number of hours a teacher has to spend in school each week.

According to a recent government resolution (GR), teachers in schools across Maharashtra will have to work for 45 hours a week at school. It calls for an increase in the number of teaching hours, compared to the state’s secondary school code, which had made it mandatory for teachers to spend 30 hours in school.

The GR makes it mandatory for teachers from Classes I to V to spend 200 days a year teaching, while for Classes VI to VIII, it’s 220 days a year. The government’s secondary school code had called for a minimum 230 days to be spent in school a year; 195 teaching days; and 230 days they have to attend school.

“The act talks of a system of continuous and comprehensive education, which looks at enhancing the teaching-learning process, and making the classroom more joyful for students. However, the process may give teachers little time to concentrate on low achievers. Teachers will get an extra 15 hours each week for which to concentrate on students who are poor at studies,’’ said Fr Francis Swamy, the principal of Holy Family School in Andheri.

“Reducing the number of teaching days, while increasing the number of hours put in each week, is very good. It will ensure that learning is not a drudgery,’’ said Swamy.

Ramesh Joshi, who heads the largest civic teachers’ union, had no problem with the increase in the number of teaching hours each week. “The act calls for fewer examinations, so teachers will spend less time on administrative tasks and will get to spend more time teaching children,’’ he added.

“It is very good. We were waiting for the GR to come out. With the act emphasising on a system of continuous and comprehensive evaluation, it’s impossible to do justice to such a system without increasing the number of teaching hours. Teachers need to stay back after the children have left school, for the new system to work,” said Najma Kazi, principal, Anjuman-I-Islam’s Saif Tyabji Girl’s School.

Not everyone is in favour of the new system. “I spend two and a half hours commuting each day. The extra hours will make my day more stressful,” said a teacher who lives in the suburbs and works in South Mumbai

Teachers will spend 15 hrs extra each week in school

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