Summer break is the time between the end of an old school year and the beginning of a new school year. Summer breaks usually last for about six-eight weeks. In high schools, summer holidays in India, are often quite structured, typically starting in late April ands and ending in the first week of June. This time frame is relatively standard across many schools, as it aligns with the K-12 academic calendar.
The purpose of this extended break is multifaceted - it serves as a respite from academic rigor, offers students time for recreation, family trips, part-time jobs, and summer school.
It is hard to go and hunt for rational thinking about the rather abrupt decision of the Goa government to change the pattern of summer holidays. To toy with educational principles and practices cannot be overnight and arbitrary decisions. It must be recommended by an expert group who study the implications of an academic turn. In cold climates, there are longer winter breaks. Not so elsewhere.
Apparently, the decision is in line with the New Education Policy (NEP) “ a policy which is met with resistance from eminent academics and social thinkers in the public arena around the country. The government turned a deaf ear to the voice of the people instead of engaging in serious consultation.
The Goa government has announced an almost unilateral decision to change the summer break within which the academic year will commence in April, rather than June. This may be the NEP as formulated by the Centre and sent down for implementation around the country. The All-Goa Secondary School Teachers Association has opposed the proposal. It does not add up to common sense when the government argues that Goa’s State Board Schools must be aligned with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) calendar.
What gains will a common academic year help all states to have a common academic year and examination process?
Carlos Alvares Ferreira, MLA of Aldona, and former Assistant Solicitor General of India, Public prosecutor and Advocate General of Goa differs strongly with the government’s decision. He accuses the government is playing with the lives of children. He argues that the 29 working hour is the normal standard. The government is now imposing a 39-hour work schedule. He questions the government as to why such a decision was taken with no serious thought for its consequences on students, teachers, school administrators, and parents. In the final analysis, the brunt of the decision will have a seriously negative impact on entire societies because of its multiple effects. Ferreira asks: Why the hurry? He explains how in the summer months the heat can affect the health and strains and stresses of all school workers. In the hot summer months, there is little by way of infrastructure to teach-study-administer in intolerable conditions. Carlos Ferreira asserts that this should have been proposed for the next year giving stakeholders time to consider. Not just teachers and Head teachers, but by students too.
The Education department has been callous, unplanned and carless. Whoever devised the idea reminds of an apocryphal story of a monkey who sat on a rock during a severe flood. When the waters receded, the monkey, out of pity for the fish that he saw, climbed lower, and lifted the fish out of the water one-by-one and left them ashore. After a while, he looked to his side to find all the fish dead. It is a moot question: Are we playing monkey with education? Imagine, college students having to be dressed in uniforms. Where does this obsolete thinking emanate from?
