COURT OVERTURNS DECISION TO MAKE SATURDAYS WORKING DAYS IN SCHOOLS

In a landmark decision, the Kerala High Court has overturned a directive from the Director of General Education, which had mandated that Saturdays be treated as a working day for all government and aided schools up to the 10th standard.

A single bench of Justice A. Ziyad Rahman issued this ruling while disposing of a batch of writ petitions filed by various associations of school teachers and students challenging the government’s decision. Although the directive was already in effect, the court clarified that its ruling would take effect starting this coming Saturday.

The court also instructed the state government to reconsider the decision after consulting stakeholders and experts to determine the optimal number of working days. Earlier, various teachers’ organizations had openly opposed the government’s decision to increase the total number of school working days to 220. This opposition included teachers’ organizations affiliated with opposition parties and the Communist Party of India (CPI). Even the organization under the Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M) conveyed its objection to the government’s decision.

The Kerala Education Act mandates 220 working days in an academic year. However, in the 2022-23 academic year, the number was only 195 days, which was later increased to 204 following a directive from Education Minister V. Sivankutty.