Mid-term holidays for state board schools cut short by four days

 Students of schools that follow the state syllabus will get shorter mid-term holidays in October and a more hectic November to compensate for the working days lost to the recent shutdowns.

As per a circular issued by the Department of Public Instruction on September 21, the mid-term holidays or Dasara festival will be cut short by three days.
They will be 14 days this time instead of the usual 17.

The holidays will be from October 9 (Sunday) to October 23. In addition, students will be required to sacrifice their half days on Saturdays and attend full classes in November 2016, the circular said. For Urdu-medium students, there will be full-day classes on any day that has been designated as their half day.

The holidays have been cut short and four half days converted into full working days to ensure that a school has the minimum number of working days (240) in an academic year, the circular said.

Owing to the ongoing Cauvery controversy and the strikes called by trade unions and transport bodies recently, schools were shut on several days. There were complaints about schools not being able to complete their syllabus due to the disruption.

Srikantappa, principal, RR English School, Nandini Layout, said that because of the “loss of working days”, it was a challenge to cover the syllabus for all subjects.

“Sensing that we would not be able to complete the syllabus, we had already made our own arrangements such as conducting special classes on Sundays. We in fact declared Saturday a full working day without waiting for the government circular.”