Teacher's sulk over department's move to increase working hours

The Education department issued a letter to all government schools, asking them to extend the working hours of the teacher's, here, recently.

The Education department issued a letter to all government schools, asking them to extend the working hours of the teacher's, here, recently.

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Three months after rolling back its decision, the UT education department has re-directed the schools to increase their weekly working hours from 36 to 45 hours.

“This means that the teachers and government school heads will have to stay in their schools till 3.30 pm every day, instead of the present 2 pm. However, the school timings of the students will remain the same,” said Swarn Singh Kamboj, president of the UT Cadre Education Employees Union.

The letter states that the move was aimed at improving the quality of education. During the extended working hours, teachers will be required to prepare their teaching lessons and learning material for the next day, hold special classes for students weak in studies.

The move has created resentment among teachers who have already started complaining about the hasty decision. They say they will go on dharna and also meet the DPI (schools) regarding the increase in timings.

Another government teacher Shruti Verma criticised the decision and said, “This is not a correct step taken by the department, because it is not at all reasonable. We have to cater to 45-77 students at one time. We also need peace of mind.”