Now, teachers will work six hours daily

Updated on: Thursday, April 07, 2011

The state government’s decision to amend a resolution that made a 45-hour week mandatory for teachers brings relief to both overworked teachers and overburdened students.

School education minister Rajendra Darda announced in the legislative council on Wednesday that a recent government resolution requiring school teachers to work for nine hours daily and 45 hours a week will be amended immediately, bringing it to 30 hours a week.

School management associations and teachers’ representatives had objected to the 45-hour clause arguing that the state’s secondary code, which is already in place, stated teachers, should spend 30 hours in school. Moreover, running schools for nine hours a day was also termed unfeasible.

Kapil Patil, elected to the legislative council from the teachers’ constituency, raised the issue in the House in the afternoon session. The member said the Right to Education (RTE) Act, on the basis of which the resolution was introduced, states teachers must put 30 hours of work at school. He further said the Act states that “the remaining 15 hours must be used outside school premises in preparation of the subject taught.” Patil said there was a lot of confusion among students and teachers, as the resolution introduced did not make this distinction.

Darda agreed this distinction ought to have been made and that the resolution in its present form had certain flaws. He said an amendment would be introduced immediately. Ramnath Mote, another representative from the teachers’ constituency, also spoke on the issue.

The resolution made it mandatory for teachers from classes one to five to teach for 200 days and 800 hours in a year, while for classes six to eight, it is 220 days and 1,000 hours a year. The secondary school code had called for a minimum 230 days to be spent in school a year, of which 195 had to be teaching days. Darda said the new guidelines were being enforced to upgrade the quality of education.

Now, teachers will work six hours daily

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