April start must to achieve NEP’s 1,200 hours/year goal: Govt to HC

Panaji: The decision to commence the school academic year in April was taken to accommodate 1,200 instructional hours per year as stipulated by the National Education Policy (NEP), govt told the high court on Wednesday.
The academic year commencing in April will have 217 instructional days and 237 working days, govt submitted to the HC, which is hearing a petition filed by parents challenging the April start.
A detailed circular outlining the starting and ending points of semesters, as well as vacation periods, shall be issued shortly, govt submitted to the HC in an affidavit on Wednesday. The HC will hear the matter again on March 24 when the parents respond to govt’s reply.
Parents argue that the April start will increase instructional days to over 240 in contravention of the National Curriculum Framework in furtherance of the NEP and the Goa Education Act and Rules.
However, the director of education, Shailesh Zingade, submitted to the HC that the rules require schools to have a minimum of 220 working days, but don’t make any reference to the number of instructional hours required to be imparted to students over this minimum period.
The Right to Education (RTE) Act and the Goa School Education Rules make it clear that the number of working days mentioned is the bare minimum required to be completed, he submitted.
With the new academic year commencing in April, schools will have an equal number of days in both semesters. Semester 1 will have 108 instructional days and Semester 2, 109 instructional days. This will enable schools to plan academic activities proportionately in both semesters, Zingade said.
This will enable a minimum of 200 instructional days as mandated by the RTE Act, he added. These are excluding examination days, discretionary holidays, and 10 bagless days. Authorities will ensure that examinations do not overlap with Ganesh Chaturthi or any other important festivals, he said.
He added that adopting this method will provide scope for conducting bagless days and activity-based learning sessions to achieve the competency-based learning outcomes as expected in the National Curriculum Framework, 2023.
The NEP is required to be notified depending upon the local conditions, and in Goa, unlike other states, the distribution of holidays across academic years is wholly different, Zingade explained.
In Goa, a large period of vacation is provided to students for festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi and Christmas. If the number of instructional hours is required to be completed within the same setup as that of past academic years, the only way would be to reduce the festival holidays, he submitted.
He denied that students were given a vacation throughout the months of April and May considering weather conditions. He added that April has never been declared a break/vacation period for schools under the Goa board.
Circulars make it abundantly clear schools were operational for all of April, Zingade said, adding that the academic year always included the month as a working period.