Kochi: Schools and other educational institutions sought exemption from hartals/strikes as they find it difficult to fulfil the mandatory 220 teaching days in an academic year.
Mr Ibrahim Khan, president, Kerala CBSE School Management Association, told reporters that he had asked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Opposition Lea-der Ramesh Chennithala to exempt the educational sector from the proposed national strike on January 8 and 9.
The associations of Kerala aided and unaided schools and ICSE schools have also endorsed the demand. In a joint statement, the associations appealed to the government and political parties to “exempt the entire educational system, especially schools from the consequences of hartals, bandhs and strikes.” They have also called upon the political parties to keep in mind the well-being of the future generation and society.
The schools in the state are unable to fulfil the mandatory 220 teaching days in an academic year, the representatives of the associations said. “In the current academic year, we will get only 172 teaching days,” they said. Although floods and adverse weather conditions also played a role, the management associations mainly blamed the culture of hartal for the poor rate of teaching days. In the previous academic year, the number of teaching days in the state was only 184, they said.
They plan to conduct a prolonged campaign with the support of parents and members of the civil society for keeping out the educational sector from the menace of frequent strikes.
