Teachers involved in framing recommendations on the government’s directive to study the feasibility of keeping Saturdays off reported that other than getting time to rest, there will not be any meaningful contribution. The recommendations have been submitted to the Cabinet. The education and skills development minister said there won’t be any significant changes to the Individual Work Plan (IWP) for teachers during the Meet the Press session, today.
Following the prime minister’s directives to study the feasibility of closing schools on Saturdays and review the IWP for teachers a month ago, two committees were formed consisting of teachers and principals to discuss, review, and submit proposals.
During the Meet the Press session today, the government said that principals shared their concerns about not completing the syllabus on time if Saturdays are kept as a holiday.
Similarly, it was also stated that it is difficult to fit in co-curricular activities during weekdays when most of the classes take place. Most schools usually keep co-curricular activities on Saturdays.
“They shared that there is no time to conduct co-curricular activities like awareness and advocacy programmes. Moreover, they also believe that schools with boarding facilities will also have a hard time monitoring the students if schools are closed on Saturdays,” said Yeezang De Thapa, Education and Skills Development Minister.
The only advantage the review committee stated was time for teachers to rest and attend to personal matters.
The education minister said the decision will be taken considering the academic needs of the schools.
“We need to find out more about it. I do not know how much time it will take. However, if we make a mistake from the start, there are approximately 180,000 students and we might ruin their education. We want to keep Saturdays as holidays, however, thorough meetings, discussions and research have to be done as it is an important policy for the future of youths,” said the Prime Minister.
Regarding the review of the IWP of teachers, the education and skills development minister said that the IWP review committee shared no significant reservations.
The only inconvenience stated was when teachers were rated ‘Partially Meeting Expectations’ during the moderation exercise.
“One of the recommendations submitted to the Cabinet is that schools, which are short of teachers by 20 per cent or more but are functioning normally have to be exempted from the moderation exercise,” added the Education and Skills Development Minister.
There are a few other recommendations regarding teachers’ IWP, which have been submitted to the Cabinet. According to the minister, a decision that would suit the well-being of teachers will be taken by the Cabinet.
Devika Pradhan
Edited by Kipchu
