An attempt to reduce the period of winter vacations from now onwards in Kashmir valley immediately after the announcement of change in Examination Session from Oct-Nov to March-April has thrown up new challenges to all the three key stake holders of primary and secondary education- the teachers, the students and the parents. Reducing the period of winter vacations for increasing the days of class tuitioning in schools is indeed a good idea but challenges to implement this new policy are more intense for Government than private schools. While most of the private schools are well equipped with all the infrastructural facilities and as such won’t have obviously any major issue in installing and operating modern heating systems to change class rooms into comfort zones for both the teachers and the students but it won’t be possible for the government to run heating systems in the schools of remote rural areas either run from rented buildings or from semi concrete buildings some of which are even without doors and windows. Another major challenge likely to come in the way of conducting classes smoothly from the very first week of December could be the availability of transport facilities during the freezing temperatures in morning and evening hours. Though teachers won’t find it much difficult to reach class rooms even in chilly mornings of winter but parents won’t obviously allow their children of primary and middle classes to move to their schools even if best possible transport facilities are made available to them. It is also an irrefutable fact that children can’t withstand the shivering cold of winter during freezing temperatures in early morning hours in peak winter months.
Never forget that teachers used to assign home work to the students after their promotion to next higher classes for the two months of winter vacation and now they can assign home work to the students as part of their preparations for the examinations to be held now in March and April from this year onwards. So vacations would give more relief and respite to students than the teachers who otherwise also attend training programs at the DIETs (District Institutes of Education & Trainings) of their concerned districts during peak winter months of December, January and February. Administrative wisdom demands that decision on winter vacations is taken more for securing the academic interests of the students and less for enforcing attendance of teachers at Government schools.
What matters the most is the fact that winter vacations would give students an opportunity to prepare for the examinations now scheduled to be held in March and April months instead of October, November and December months. Never forget that teachers used to assign home work to the students after their promotion to next higher classes for the two months of winter vacation and now they can assign home work to the students as part of their preparations for the examinations to be held now in March and April from this year onwards. So vacations would give more relief and respite to students than the teachers who otherwise also attend training programs at the DIETs (District Institutes of Education & Trainings) of their concerned districts during peak winter months of December, January and February. Administrative wisdom demands that decision on winter vacations is taken more for securing the academic interests of the students and less for enforcing attendance of teachers at Government schools.
