Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on February 20 assured the Assembly that the existing eight-hour school duration from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in government-run institutions will be reduced by two hours. He said the new timings will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (six hours).
His assurance came amid uproarious scenes in the Assembly by the Opposition members, who entered the well of the House, protesting the "inhuman" timings. "The timings of schools for academic activities should be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. only... it should not be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.," he said.
"Yeh galat hai (this is wrong)," he said about the existing school timings. "I will immediately call the competent officer of the Department and will direct him to change the timings. You (the Opposition members) people should have told me earlier. Now, the new timings will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.," Mr. Kumar said.
His reference was to the fact that the timings were issued by then Education Minister Chandra Sekhar of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) when the JD(U) was in the Mahagathbandhan.
The Education Department had in November last year issued the new timings for the schools, and it came into effect on December 1.
Besides providing details of class timings, the guidelines specified the disciplinary measures against teachers for not following the new timetable.
