'Modern' row over six-day-week school
Apr 19, 2007 - 3:35:27 PM
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'Class 11 and 12 students go to attend their engineering and medical coaching classes on Saturdays and other students use it to hone their extra-curricular activities like dance, music and sports classes,' he said adding that parents were also not in favour of classes on Saturdays.
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By IANS,
[RxPG] New Delhi, April 19 - Modern School, a well-known Delhi-based institution, was closed for the third day in a row Thursday over a wrangle between teachers and management on whether it should work on Saturdays.
'The management wants to make Saturday a working day but students and teachers are not in favour of it. We have achieved much success working only five days a week, hence there is no need to overburden us,' said a senior teacher.
Modern School is a private institution and has two branches in Delhi. No classes have been held there since Tuesday. On Thursday, a school circular said on its official website: 'School is closed on April 19, 2007. School bus will not be plying on that day.'
The teachers' association of the school said it's the management that had kept the students away. 'All the teachers have been coming to the school but there are no students.'
The 87-year-old school, considered to be one of the best in the country, has produced many leaders in several fields. Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, Indian cricket team member Gautam Gambhir, former cricketer Kirti Azad, justice Mukul Mudgal, and cardiologist Naresh Trehan are among the school alumni.
Teachers in the school said on Monday that Anuradha Pratap Singh, the chairman of the school, had a meeting with them at 11.30 a.m. and directed them to declare Saturdays as working days from July.
'She said it's the direction of the chairman of the board of trustees, General Virendra Singh. They want us to work 240 days a year instead of 210 days as is the current practice,' said another teacher.
Teachers said Saturday was not a feasible day to conduct classes, as very few students would turn up.
'During 2005-06, the school experimented with the Saturday model but it did not work out,' the teacher said.
'Class 11 and 12 students go to attend their engineering and medical coaching classes on Saturdays and other students use it to hone their extra-curricular activities like dance, music and sports classes,' he said adding that parents were also not in favour of classes on Saturdays.
So when will classes resume? 'It's the management that needs to take a quick decision. Till that time no one knows,' said another teacher.
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