Bengaluru: School timings a matter of concern for parents

Bengaluru: With the new academic year in progress, parents in the city have a new concern – working hours their wards spend at schools. While some think extending school hours till evening would give their children extra break time for interactions at school, some are eager that the hours should be reduced, to enable them to return home early to spend more family time.

Now there are some social media groups with parents discussing the matter. While most schools in the city work till 3-3.30 pm, Kavita Sirohi, a parent, raised her concern remarking it is pathetic for students to come late from schools. She suggested the working hours should end by 2 pm.

“Children get no time to rest and for any extra activities at home, as they get tired by the time they are home because of the current timings,” she said. On the contrary, Chetana Keni, another parent said that ending schools by 2 pm would hurry the kids unnecessarily. “Why are they coming home to complete homework and to do other activities if the same can be completed at the school itself,” she questioned.

Swapna Vaidya, a working mom, noted that having long school hours would minimise the amount of risks taken as children have to be taken to a daycare from school until parents get free after work otherwise. “My children are getting smarter as teachers and caretakers are doing ‘parallel mommy’ jobs, jointly doing more than what a single person could think of doing,” she said.

At the same time, according to A.B Suresh of the Karnataka School Parents' Association, a generic rule for schools on the timings they follow would not be practical as it depends on various factors. Rather, he suggests that individual schools and parents should reach a consensus on the issue, after healthy discussions.

“While some parents prefer sending their children to schools located far away from home to match their schedule to that of their wards, others prefer a school closer to their homes to ensure that the children don’t take the burden of travelling. The latter, but, are forced to take assistance from caretakers or maids, until any parent reaches back post work,” he said.