Teaching hours to go up in Himachal government schools

Teaching hours will increase in government schools of the state for the academic session 2025-26, according to the Annual Academic Calendar.

According to it, schools will have to complete 240 working days in an academic session. In addition to fixing the number of working days, house exams and sports activities will be held simultaneously in all schools.

“The calendar has brought uniformity in hosting sports and other activities, which is a good move. Also, an increase in the number of teaching hours will help the students,” said Sandeep Sharma, principal, Government Senior Secondary School, Cheog.

Another highlight of the calendar is the emphasis on bag-free days on the last Saturdays of the month, with a variety of activities planned for students on these days.

Some of the activities prescribed for bag-free days include awareness on cybercrime, drug abuse, and safety, exposure visits and excursions, awareness on waterborne diseases, events on road safety, health hygiene and mock drills on disaster management, storytelling and career counseling, visits to post offices and banks, etc.

Furthermore, the teaching-learning process will begin on the first day of the academic session. In the first 30 days of the session, teachers will provide readiness/remedial teaching to address learning gaps based on the previous class's results.

The practice of sending schoolchildren to attend various functions and programs organised by different government departments/ NGOs will be discontinued. If students must be sent for such events, prior permission from the Director of Education will be required.

While the number of teaching days has been increased, the days allotted for sports have been reduced.

According to the calendar, block and district-level sports meets will have to be completed in three days.

“It will be tough to complete the sports events in just three days as these are held in two categories, for boys and girls. There isn't enough sports staff in schools to conduct these events in the given time frame,” said a school principal.