Thiruvananthapuram: The Director of Public Instruction has sought the opinion of teachers on holding youth festivals during vacations to reduce the loss of academic days.
DPI Biju Prabhakar, in a letter written to teachers, asked them to submit their opinions before January 31.
Many had suggested that extracurricular activities such as youth festivals, science exhibitions, sports and games should be conducted on holidays to ensure adequate number of academic days.
This year, a number of school days were lost due to monsoon and strikes. Schools had to compensate this by working on Saturdays.
It was suggested that Onam and Christmas holidays should be reduced according to the days lost during the term so that students would get enough time for their practice without missing any academic days.
As per the Right to Education Act, there should be 220 working days every year. A student should attend classes at least on 200 days and get 1,000 hours of class at secondary level and 800 hours at the primary level.
Teachers are required to work 45 hours per week, including preparatory time.
