Director School Education Kashmir (DSEK) Showkat Baigh on Wednesday said that strict action under law will be taken against the educational institutions— if they are found violating school timings announced by the government.
The DSEK has notified the official timings in schools within municipal limits of Srinagar from 9 am to 3 pm. While outside the city municipal limits, the schools have been directed to function from 10 am to 4 pm. However, in brazen violation of norms, some private schools in the City open the schools in early morning—subjecting students of lower class to inconvenience.
“We wake up kids as small as four years at 5.30 am so as to reach their schools at Raj Bagh before 8 am. This is torturous for our kids. Why doesn’t the school management adhere to the norms prescribed by the Education department on timings?,” said a group of parents.
Director Education Showkat Baigh said that his office has not received any formal complaint in this regard from parents. “However, strict action under law will be taken if any educational institution is found violating government orders about school opening timing,” said Baigh.
Health experts link early school timings with degrading health and mental ability of the child. “As some schools force parents of students of Nursery, LKG and UKG to ensure their presence in the educational institutions at 7 am or 8 am, it has adverse effects on health of children,” they said.
Elaborating they said “this puts the kids under immense mental pressure.” “Some kids also resent the early awaking. Subsequently going to schools becomes haunting process for them. The kids of age group between two-five years need good sleep and less pressure. However, the wrong school timings by some private schools ruin the child and also harms their health,” they added.
“Besides, most of the schools have kept the same timings for lower primary students and higher classes. The concentration span of lower primary students is less and thus they should not be kept at schools for more than four hours,” they said.
“We wonder why government is watching as mute spectator to this serious problem,” a group of parents rued.”
