By Rajan Narayan

EDUCATION minister Dr Pramod Sawant and the Education Department seem to be determined to bheja fry the minds of school-going children in the state of Goa. This is obvious from the decision of the Department of Education to start the academic year for students between 5TH and 10TH standards on April 7, 2025 instead of the traditional first week of June.
It is not clear whether the change in the academic year will also apply to the KG and the primary-level school children. Already Goa is in the grip of a heatwave. The Metrological department has placed Goa on a yellow alert as the mercury has been crossing 37 degrees Fahrenheit almost every day. If it is so hot in March you can well imagine what it will be like in April and May which are considered the hottest months in the year.
During the hot summer months several thousands of Indians die due to the heatwave which sweeps across the northern parts of India like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. There have been no heatwave deaths in Goa so far but if the government persists with its decision to change the academic year to April 7, a lot of school-children will suffer and run the risk of being hospitalized due to dehydration. Especially if no precautions are taken.
Originally, schools were scheduled to be open on April 1. Perhaps the Educational department did not want to re-open schools on April Fool’s Day. Postponing the opening day to April 7 does not solve the real problems. Of course besides the heat early resumption of schools in April instead of the first week of June, deprives both parents and children of the cherished summer vacation. A time for children to explore other talents like singing, playing instruments or traveling, and engaging in sports.
It is because of the heat and dust of the traditional Indian summer that the British colonial government and the Portuguese government in Goa limited school children’s timings from 8 am to 1 pm. This came with a half-an-hour break. Even government offices in British India functioned between 7 am to 2 pm so that employees both in the public and private sectors can escape the heat. It was to escape the heat that the British ruling class developed the hill stations all over the country.

GOVERNMENT CUES
DURING the summer months, the capital of British India shifted from the extremely hot New Delhi to Shimla hill station in Himachal Pradesh. Even post-Independence the president of India shifted his residence and his office to Shimla following the tradition of the British governor-generals. All the famous hill stations of India like Shimla, Darjeeling and Mussoorie in the north and Mount Abu in Gujarat, and Ooty in Tamil Nadu, not to mention Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra, were developed by the British as retreats from the heat of the plains.
Therefore it is not a coincidence that the best residency schools, which are wrongly referred to as public schools, are located in the hill stations. Everyone hill station is home to some very elite public schools like the Doon School in Dehradun and the other public schools in Mount Abu in Rajasthan and down south India in Ooty in Tamil Nadu and in the north-east there’s Shillong in Meghalaya.
Many of the bold and beautiful, and rich and powerful of India, are products of the exclusive residency or boarding schools located in the choice hill stations of India. In small state Goa it is to get away from the heat of the coastal belts that the Altinho or hilltop area were developed by the Portuguese in Panaji, Mapusa and other urban areas. Significantly, many of Goa’s historical churches are sited on hill tops.

LISTEN TO PARENTS
AS protesting parents have pointed out, in Indian conditions the best time for children to get a break is during the hot summer months. Admittedly, the resumption of schools in the monsoon months which follow create some problems but the rains are far more manageable than heat. Protection against rain is simpler than protection from the heat.
In any case, most children and particularly school-going children, seem to have developed immunity to getting wet in the rains occasionally. On the contrary children seem to enjoy the rain and splashing and playing in rainy day puddles and pools which come up here and there. Moreover, with the exception of a few parts in the country, the monsoon rain is not very heavy. In Goa of course it rains copiously and abundantly around the clock for days at times. It is heavy rain interspersed with lighter showers, but during the peak season it rains heavily and the streets flood over where the drainage is poor. The school have an infrastructure to cope with the monsoon rain.
In contrast, Goa does not have any infrastructure for coping with the hot summer months. The green and cooling tree cover which Goa used to pride itself on has come down very sharply. In Panaji, the old bus stands offered some kind of decent protection from the heat, but in recent times in Smart City projects they have put up some disgraceful bus-stops which neither provide decent sitting space nor protection from the sun or rain. These bus-stops are shiny affairs built to facilitate advertising by business houses. Even the huge rucksack schoolbags that even primary school children have to carry are add to discomfort in the hot summer days, and to mention that they are terribly bad for the children’s young backbones. These unscientifically designed rucksacks lugged on children’s back need to be reviewed urgently for all the back problems it will bring in the future.
PARENTS do not have any major objections to the new education policies if it means improvement in the quality of education. Parents and teachers are even willing to accept the full day school instead of the present half day school. Though the full day school is very tough on both parents and teachers. Both this groups will not get any rest because of the full day schools. The full day schools will only tire out the children without bringing any bigger benefit in terms of education, even if the extra hours are used for extra circular activities.
The state government and the educational department must respond to the genuine concerns of parents and teachers. School management are vehemently opposed to the change in the academic year and the concept of the whole-day school. At present the current system permits optimal use of the school premises. Classes can be held for the primary sections in the morning and for the higher classes in the evening. The whole day school will impose a big strain on the existing infrastructure. It may require additional investment which private schools cannot afford.

LANGUAGE SCHOOLS
AND while talking of primary schools it’s a matter of great concern, that primary government schools in the regional languages and particularly Marathi and Konkani, are closing down. At the peak of their tenure of both chief ministers Bhausaheb Bandodkar and later his daughter, Sashikala Kakodkar, there were more the 1,500 Marathi-medium government schools. I understand that there are less than 400 government schools in Marathi and Konkani combined now. Unless the government primary schools at least offers English as an additional language, children will continue to migrate to the more expensive private English primary schools.
IT IS alarming to learn that there has been a fall in enrolment at the primary level during the last few years. The annual enrolment in the first standard has fallen to below three lakh. This is attributed to the falling population of Goa and the drop in the number of migrants entering the state. The ground reality is that there are no government jobs either for locals or migrants.