One city school has decided to start their academic session by the second week of March instead of April so they do not lose out on working days because of untimely summer holidays.
The Heritage School in a letter addressed to parents on Saturday said they will begin the academic session on March 11, 2024.
The school was earlier scheduled to open a month later on April 11.
Schools this year and last year had to either shut down or switch to online classes because of a state government directive following heat wave-like conditions.
“In the past few years, we have been observing an early onset of summer and delay in monsoon because of which the schools are having to close early and open late. An uninterrupted calendar has become a growing challenge and that inevitably affects students’ learning outcome,” said the letter from the principal, addressed to parents from pre-primary to Class XII.
Most schools prepare their academic calendar for a year in advance and the planner includes the date of the school’s reopening for the new session.
The Telegraph had reported in April that the declaration of early summer holidays in two consecutive years was making many schools mull changes in their academic calendar.
After the government asked schools to shut down because of the heat spell, many private institutions shifted to online classes.
But based on their experience during the pandemic, they felt that this could, at best, be a stop-gap arrangement and not a long-term solution.
In an online setup, students in higher classes miss out on laboratory periods that are an integral part of their lessons.
The Heritage School has gone ahead and made the change.
A group of schools that this newspaper spoke to are contemplating a change but are yet to take a decision.
The Heritage School has informed parents in the letter that to “ensure continuity in learning of scholastic and non-scholastic activities”, they would like to bring some changes.
“We plan to start the new session on 11th March 2024 and continue, if possible, till 10th May 2024 to give our students two months of undisturbed, structured, activity-based learning. We will reopen school after the summer vacation on 11th June 2024,” says the letter.
The school will finish the final term by March 1 and the report cards will be given out to students before the session starts.
“Even if we have to close early because of the heat next year, we would still already have had at least one-and-half-months or more of classes done,” Sapru told The Telegraph.
Sapru said the decision was taken after a meeting with the teachers.
In the letter, principal Sapru tells parents: “We hope that this will help mitigate the challenges encountered both by teachers and students in curriculum transaction.”