The All Kerala School Teachers’ Union (AKSTU) too has come forward to criticise the government decision to reduce summer vacations in a unilateral manner.
In a statement on Sunday, the AKSTU State secretariat demanded that any changes in the education sector be introduced only through discussions, not unilaterally.
Instead of decisions on school working days taken at a meeting of the Quality Improvement Programme monitoring committee that was chaired by Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty, those taken at official level were being imposed. This was unacceptable.
The C.P. Nair committee and the M.A. Khader committee had directed timely changes in the education sector subject to the Kerala Education Rules. Without considering those, slashing the summer vacations through an order could not be accepted.
As per principles of child psychology, holidays are as important as studies. To improve academic quality, steps that took teachers into confidence were needed. Impractical directions should be withdrawn and changes made to be the academic calendar and published, a petition by AKSTU president P.K. Mathew and general secretary O.K. Jayakrishnan to Mr. Sivankutty demanded.
