No holiday on Independence Day, August 15 for Kerala schools!
24 Mar, 2025 11:54 IST|Sakshi Post
Without just celebrating the patriotic day, Kerala's Department of General Education has decided to replace traditional Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations in schools with educational classes. The new approach is to enlighten the students about the efforts that led to India's independence, as opposed to simply adhering to the traditional hoisting of flags, distribution of sweets, and early dispersal. So, from now on there won't be any holidays on Republic and Independence days, January 26, and August 15.
This new strategy is also on the cards for other important days such as Gandhi Jayanti. By incorporating these days into the academic calendar, the department aims to keep students occupied with useful activities instead of the usual class lessons. This approach could also prevent the loss of the minimum number of instructional days.
The Objective Behind the Shift
The Khader Committee had previously suggested that such days be used to educate students rather than providing holidays. Classes I to V now need to have 200 working days with 800 study hours, and classes VI to VIII need 220 working days with 1,000 study hours. The Right to Education Act requires these norms only up to class VIII.
Challenges in Achieving the Number of Working Days Needed
It is usually possible to achieve 200 working days for lower primary (LP) classes. Nevertheless, the government is looking for means to achieve the 220 working days for upper primary (UP) and high schools. As of now, Kerala schools on average have approximately 195 working days.
A Proposal to Work on Saturdays
To counter this, a committee has been constituted to look for solutions. While most organizations oppose declaring Saturdays as working days, there is a suggestion to employ Saturdays for study purposes rather than having six consecutive working days. This could provide seven extra study days in the next academic year.
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