Nitish backs holiday cut in schools

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday backed the move of the education department to curtail the number of school holidays on important festivals in the remaining five months of the year to make up for the loss of teaching days.

“After all, everyone wants education in schools. If the officials of the education department are doing that, what is wrong. If anyone has anything to say, they should tell me. I am there to listen to all. He is doing a good job. I want all children to study,” Kumar told media persons when asked about the sharp reactions over leave cuts in schools.

Kumar’s reaction is significant as there has been demand from teachers’ bodies and BJP leaders for recall of the holiday order and removal of additional chief secretary K K Pathak as from the education department.

Attendance in Bihar schools has always been a big challenge despite various incentives due to lack of subject teachers and inadequate infrastructure and basic facilities, which Pathak has been consistently flagging. However, despite claim to some improvement, the challenge is to sustain it and improve further. The attendance requirement of 75% for eligibility to take board exam is also a challenge to meet, as it is the first time it has been enforced. Hitherto, there was no attendance requirement for taking board exams.

The education department last week cited Right to Education Act, 2009 to underline that as per the provisions, there must be a minimum of 200 days of teaching in a year in the primary schools and 220 days in the middle schools (class 6-8) and revised the holiday calendar for the remaining five months of the year, cutting down the holidays from 22 days to eight days from September onwards.

“Due to elections, law and order situation, exams, festivals, flood, natural disasters, different competitive and recruitment tests and important programmes, teaching gets affected in schools. Besides, there is no uniformity in closure of schools. While some schools remain open, others witness holidays,” says the order issued by director, secondary education.

The matter also took political turns with union minister with Giriraj Singh saying that soon “Shariat could also be enforced in Bihar”. “The education department of Bihar has cancelled holidays on Durga Puja, Chhath and Diwali. Tomorrow, it is quite possible Shariat could be enforced in the state and there could be ban on Hindu festivals,” he had tweeted.

Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kunar Modi had said that the department of education should not be run by whims to selectively implement RTE Act and keep engaging teachers in all kinds of non-academic activities around the year, contrary to Section 27 of the Act that “prohibits deployment of teachers for non-educational purposes, other than decennial population census, disaster relief duties or duties relating to elections to local authority, state legislatures and parliament”.

Bihar Shikshak Manch, which is active on social media, immediately tagged Kumar’s reaction with the negligible attendance on Raksha Bandhan on August 31, saying that just by issuing orders to open schools, students cannot come.