Meghalaya’s school system gets an update: What Parents and Students should know

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJanuary 31, 2024

In a bid to ensure the smooth functioning of the Academic Session 2024 in all schools across Meghalaya, the Commissioner & Secretary to the Government of Meghalaya, Education Department, P Bakshi, IAS, has issued a comprehensive set of guidelines. The notification issued on January 29, covers various aspects of school operations, including the Academic Calendar, Minimum Working Days, School Holidays, Timings, Syllabus & Lesson Plans, Bagless Days, Adopting Formative Assessments and Parent-Teacher Meetings (PTMs).

Academic Calendar for Academic Year 2024:

The Academic Session is set to commence on 15th February 2024, Half-Yearly and Final Examinations will be decided by respective schools, the Pre-Primary Academic Session concludes on the 29th of November 2024, and the academic year for Class I to XII concludes on the 20th of December 2024. Winter vacations are scheduled from the 21st of December 2024 to the 9th of February 2025.

Minimum Working days/ Instructional Hours as per RTE Act, 2009:

As per the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, the minimum working days and instructional hours for different classes are outlined as follows:

• For Class 1 to Class 5, schools should maintain 200 working days and provide 800 instructional hours.
• For Class 6 to Class 8, the stipulated requirement is 220 working days and 1,000 instructional hours.

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School Holidays:

Apart from the Winter Vacation mentioned above, only the holidays as notified by the State Govt vide Order No.GAA.41/2023/39 Dated 8th November,2023 are to be observed. No other days shall be declared as school holidays by the school authorities without the approval of the Government.

School Timings:

All schools are to adhere to school timings and plan it in such a way that sufficient instructional hours are there to comply with the provisions of the RTE Act. For all government schools of different categories, the timings are indicated below. All other schools are also advised to schedule in a similar way.

• Govt Lower Primary Schools: 9 AM to 1 PM (4 hours)
• Govt Upper Primary Schools: 9 AM to 2 PM (5 hours)
• Govt Secondary Schools: 9 AM to 3 PM (6 hours)
• Govt Higher Secondary Schools: 9 AM to 4 PM (7 hours)

Schools located in Shillong 8& Tura which have been advised by their respective District Administration on staggered timings, shall intimate the same to the Director of School Education 85 Literacy.

All schools shall also have an Assembly Session at the beginning of the school day which should be entirely conducted by the students which will give them an opportunity to improve their communication skills. Current affairs, Value Education, Motivational examples etc. can be the topics of discussion.

Syllabus & Lesson Plans:

100% syllabus to be followed as applicable for all levels and all necessary planning should be made to ensure completion of syllabus in time. Teachers should prepare their lesson plans accordingly. Schools should also ensure that apart from academic classes, timings are also fixed for Sports and Library periods.

Bagless Days:

Every school shall observe 10 Bagless days throughout the academic session for Class 6 to Class 12 on which the students will come to school without their bags and shall be engaged in co-curricular activities as indicated below. The dates on which the school desires to observe these days are to be decided by respective schools.

• Bagless Day 1: Kitchen Gardening & Plantation
• Bagless Day 2: Career Counselling
• Bagless Day 3: Tourism-related projects and activities
• Bagless Day 4: School Beautification and Cleaning Drive
• Bagless Day 5: Library and Reading Day
• Bagless Day 6: Environmental awareness and Eco Club Activities
• Bagless Day 7: Health and Nutrition Day
• Bagless Day 8: Life Skills Day
• Bagless Day 9: Music, Art & Culture
• Bagless Day 10: Sports and Games activities

Adopting Formative Assessments:

Schools shall take steps to ensure that we gradually move towards formative assessments as suggested by National Education policy (NEP) 2020. In order to ensure this, the schools may plan to have assessments or unit tests from time to time. It is suggested that monthly or quarterly assessments should be adopted.

Parent-Teacher Meetings (PTMs):

As laid down in Section 24(e) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009, all schools shall hold regular meetings with parents and guardians and apprise them about the regularity in attendance, ability to learn, progress made in learning and any other relevant information about the child. It is suggested that these meetings be held at least once a year and the same can be organized on the Result Day of the school.

The Commissioner & Secretary to the Government of Meghalaya, Education Department, emphasised the importance of adhering to these guidelines. Any violation would result in actions to be taken against the concerned institution as per the act and rules.