Maharashtra govt tells schools to start classes for pre-primary to Std IV from 9am

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The Maharashtra government on Thursday issued a circular asking schools to start classes for pre-primary to standard IV from 9am onwards, reported the PTI.

According to the PTI, the move from the state school education department came after Governor Ramesh Bais, in a speech in the first week of December last year, indicated his aversion to the early timings for primary classes.

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"Those schools having timing of their pre-primary to 4th standard classes before 9 am should change their timings and start the classes at 9 am or later. School managements that find it difficult to change their timings must approach the district education officer concerned and find a solution," the circular said, as per the PTI.

It added that schools should not have difficulty in following teaching hours prescribed in the Right to Education Act 2009.

The circular, which had a reference to the governor's comments, said changes in lifestyle, including going to bed late, loud music and access to various means of entertainment, had resulted in students not getting adequate and proper sleep. It had adversely affected the enthusiasm of students, the circular said.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with search engine giant Google to utilize Artificial Intelligence for solutions in sectors like agriculture, healthcare and education, according to the PTI.

The MoU was signed at the company's office here in the presence of deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Sanjay Gupta, country head and vice president, Google India; and state chief secretary Nitin Kareer, as per the PTI.

"Few weeks back, I met Gupta ji and we had a small talk on how AI is affecting our lives and he informed me that their different centres of excellence are creating different platforms and applications which are not only changing the businesses but the lives of people. I told him about the government's plan to set up a centre of excellence in Nagpur. Here we both thought that this can be a mutually beneficial partnership," Devendra Fadnavis said on this occasion, the news agency reported on Thursday.

Technology should be used to "positively affect" governance and power its delivery systems as this can change the people's lives, the deputy CM added.

(with PTI inputs)