HYDERABAD: While speculations were rife about postponement of reopening of schools, in the wake of private schools and parents associations submitting a representation to Education minister, the government on Wednesday clarified that schools will indeed reopen on June 1 as per schedule.
The apprehensions on the part of parents and private schools revolved around continued spell of rising temperatures. However, the government has revised the school timings and schools will function from 7 am to 11 am between June 4 and 8.
"It is declared that classes will be reopened as per the academic calender from 1 June, 2018. The state formation day will be celebrated on 2 June and from 4 June onwards upto 8 June the schools will be run on half day basis," read the circular. The schools and parents however are not happy with the respite provided by the government, some flayed it as "impractical" and others called it "funny".
"It Is impractical. For children to reach school by 7 am they have to start by 5 am, and this will have adversely impact on their health as they will not be able to get sufficient sleep. Education department need to think rationally," said Achyuta Rao, child rights activists. Balala Hakkula Sangham has reiterated its demand for schools to reopen from June 12.
The memo also states that the Badi Bata programme, in which government school teachers take up enrollment drive, would be conducted from 4-8 June. "With all teachers involved in the enrollment programme which is to be conducted during the school hours, what classes will be held? There is also water scarcity, power outages and lack of facilities like fans and sufficient classrooms in government schools," said S Madhusudhan Reddy, member of Telangana Recognised Schools Management Association (TRSMA).
Nearly 9,000 private schools across the state 1,500 in the city are likely to bypass the meno and repon schools from June 11.
The bigger schools in the city on the other hand have decided to not follow the half-day rule. They will be starting classes on June 1 for students from classes 6 onwards. For children of smaller classes classes will commence between from 8 to 11 June.
"We were getting so many queries from the parents but despite several representations there had been no response from government until today. We can defer the reopening day but we can't follow regular timings for two days and half day for another four and then revert to regular timings again. It will create a lot of confusion," said Anjali Razadan, vice-chairperson, CBSE Schools' Association.
This is the first time the new academic calendar is being followed -- from this year onward school have to reopen from June 1 instead of mid-June as was the case until last year.