Hyderabad: No school will be allowed to open before 9 am and close after 4.30 pm. The department of school education has issued directions to all the district collectors and district education officers to ensure the strict implementation of school timings from 9 am to 4.30 pm as per the orders issued by the AP High Court in Septem-ber this year.
The new rule will come into force within a week, and will apply to all schools — those affiliated to the state board, CBSE, ICSE and other boards.
Most schools in the city start at 8-8.30 am. This is too early especially for the younger children from nursery to Class V, and especially on cold winter mornings.
Some corporate schools close late in the evening at 8 pm as they conduct special classes to prepare students from Class VII to Class X for final exams or train them in foundation courses for competitive exams they will take after Class XII.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court had on September 25 this year directed the government to ensure that all schools shut by 4.30 pm every day. The court was dealing with a petition based on a letter written by one Ramgopal Yadav of Ranga Reddy district.
The petitioner had brought to the notice of the court that children were being put through stress by being made to attend classes sometimes beyond 8 pm by the managements of private schools. He contended that this was robbing the kids of their childhood.
The petitioner urged the Chief Justice to direct the authorities to issue necessary orders to all schools in the state to fix the school timings from 9 am to 4 pm so that students could give time to sports and extracurricular activities and spend time at home.
The Andhra Pradesh State Council for Education Research and Training and experts had also recommended that schools function between 9 am and 4.30 pm. The court had warned schools that violation of the timings would be viewed seriously.
Hyderabad DEO A. Subba Reddy said, “We have received instructions from the commissioner and director of school education to implement the HC orders on school timings.
These instructions are being examined by the district collector and the modalities are being finalised over fixing specific school timings mandal-wise in the city. We follow staggered timings for schools to avoid traffic problems since several schools are located close to each other. Mandal-wise school timings will be issued in a day or two and they will come into force within a week.”
