Stricter rules for government school staffers

KOLKATA: The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education has issued a diktat to the teachers and non-teaching staff of government and government-aided schools, stating that anyone arriving to school after 11.05am will be marked absent.

In the circular, it has been made mandatory for the heads of institutions and the teaching and non-teaching staff to attend morning prayers starting between 10.40am and 10.50am every day. The appointed hour of the school will be 15 minutes before the commencement of the classes.


The circular also mandates that teaching and nonteaching staffers remain on the school campus till 4.30pm, unless leaving on official assignments. Violation will lead to stringent action, the circular read. It has also been made mandatory for teachers and non-teaching staffers to be present on holidays that are observed at the institutions.

The Madhyamik board has stipulated the number of periods to be conducted for classes V-X every week. While there must be 34 periods of 40 minutes each for Class V, Class VI students will have 39 periods. Students of classes VII-X will have 44 periods each week.

“Schools have been asked to furnish a blueprint of their routine or their daily timetable pertaining to the structure of periods and class distribution. The schools will have to e-mail a report to the Board after completing three summative assessments with highlights of the students’ progress,” a Madhyamik Board official said.

School authorities have also been asked to arrange twothree sessions of activities like data collection, reference work, laboratory activities, mock tests, career counselling and skill enhancement for classes IX and X.