“A proposed five-day school week in Jammu and Kashmir, aimed at reducing student stress, is under review by education authorities but faces calls for careful scrutiny.”
The proposal to introduce a five-day working week in schools across Jammu and Kashmir, with both Saturday and Sunday declared holidays, has quickly entered the public debate. National Conference MLA Hasnain Masoodi has argued that students are facing excessive academic pressure and need more time for rest, recreation and family. Education Minister Sakeena Itoo has said the proposal will be examined by the Directorates of School Education Jammu and Kashmir. The concern about student wellbeing is legitimate. Children should not be reduced to examination scores, and schools must provide space for play, creativity, family life and emotional development. But the proposed solution deserves much greater scrutiny before another weekly holiday is added to the school calendar. Kashmir’s education system does not suffer simply because children attend school on Saturdays. Its deeper problems lie elsewhere: uneven teaching quality, learning gaps, inadequate infrastructure in many institutions, excessive dependence on private tuition, examination-centred learning and, in some cases, a shortage of meaningful extracurricular opportunities. Giving students another day away from school does not automatically address any of these problems. In fact, for many students, particularly those from economically weaker families, school is not merely a place for completing the syllabus. It provides structured learning, access to teachers, libraries, laboratories, sports facilities and an environment that may not be available at home. A Saturday holiday could therefore have different consequences for different sections of society. There is also a practical question that cannot be ignored: if five working days are considered sufficient, how will the existing academic requirements be accommodated without reducing actual instructional time? The education authorities will have to consider classroom hours, syllabus completion, examinations, teacher availability and the existing academic calendar. The proposal should not become an exercise in simply compressing five days of learning into longer and more exhausting school days. There is another contradiction that needs attention. If children are genuinely suffering from academic overload, the government should first examine what is causing that overload. A child who attends school five days a week but spends Saturday and Sunday in tuition classes, coaching centres and homework has not necessarily received a meaningful weekend. The problem is not the number of school days alone; it is the total academic burden placed on children.
“Quick fixes like swapping school calendars won’t cure student burnout in Kashmir. True progress demands systemic reform tailored to local needs—backed by real data and shaped by teachers, parents, and students. Instead of counting days off, the focus must shift to elevating classroom quality, easing academic pressure, and enriching life beyond the desk.”
The Government should therefore focus on reducing unnecessary homework, discouraging rote learning, improving classroom teaching and strengthening sports, arts and vocational education. Schools should become places where children want to learn rather than institutions where they spend hours preparing for examinations. The argument that several countries follow a five-day school week also cannot, by itself, settle the question for Jammu and Kashmir. Education systems operate within different social, economic, climatic and institutional circumstances. What works elsewhere must be evaluated against local conditions rather than adopted simply because it is internationally familiar. The Government is right to examine the proposal rather than immediately accepting or rejecting it. The assessment should be evidence-based. Before making a policy change, the education authorities should consult teachers, parents, students, educationists and school administrators and examine attendance, learning outcomes, instructional hours and academic performance. Most importantly, Kashmir’s children deserve more than either a six-day or five-day timetable. They deserve an education system that gives them quality teaching, adequate rest, meaningful extracurricular opportunities and freedom from unnecessary academic pressure. A second weekly holiday may sound like a simple answer to student fatigue. It is not. If the objective is to make children healthier, happier and better educated, the Government must reform what happens inside the classroom and beyond it. Changing the calendar is easier than changing the system—but it is the system that needs attention.
