Maharashtra: Lack of coordination leaves state schools in a mess

Students attend class at Parle Tilak Vidyalayaon October 4. File pic

Lack of coordination between the offices of the school education department has left schools across the state confused about the Diwali vacation. Within a gap of a few days, the schools got two orders, each mentioning different duration of the holiday.

The first order declared Diwali holiday from November 1 to November 20. It was based on the academic calendar prepared by the office of the director of school education.

Based on this, schools planned their academic year and term exams, which are currently underway.

On October 25, an order adhering to the first holiday schedule was issued by education officers of Mumbai.

However, two days later, on Wednesday, school education minister Varsha Gaikwad tweeted a fresh order issued by the assistant secretary of the school education department. It declared Diwali vacation from October 28 to November 10.

This led to major chaos, as the planning for the academic year has gone for a toss. Moreover, the second order leaves hardly any room for schools to make changes.
There is now a demand for the state department to stick to the first holiday schedule.

Several teachers' organisations are writing to Gaikwad. Anil Bornare, vice president of the BJP Teachers Cell, said, "The new order tweeted by the school education minister is not adhering to the regulations. As per the regulations, a broad timeline for the academic calendar is decided by the director of education. Based on this, schools from different regions have the liberty to declare holidays. For uniformity, these orders are issued district wise and for Mumbai division Diwali vacation order was declared by education officers on Monday."

Subhash More from Shikshak Bharti said, "As per the earlier dates, schools had issued timetables for term exams that are finishing by October-end in many schools. This sudden change is definitely going to cause chaos, especially since there is not even a day left for planning as per the second order."

The MLC from teachers' constituency, Kapil Patil, has also written to the school education department, urging them to go ahead with the original timetable to avoid confusion.

Meanwhile, schools are staying open, as term exams are underway.