PANAJI
State board schools in Goa are set to undergo a significant change in their academic calendar, shifting from the current June to April schedule to April to March academic term.
While the implementation dates for this change -- either the 2025-26 or 2026-27 academic year -- is yet to be determined, the government will take into consideration all the stakeholders before going ahead.
Also, in the first phase, the government intends to implement the calendar change for secondary and higher secondary schools, with classes for the new academic year to be conducted from April 1 onwards, only till 11.30am, considering the summer weather.
Speaking to The Goan, Secretary Education IAS Prasad Lolayekar said that this new adjustment will align the state board schools with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) calendar, where the academic year commences on April 1 and concludes on March 31, with summer holidays scheduled from May 1 to June 4 (or till first week of June).
Lolayekar explained that the transition to align with National Education Policy (NEP) is expected to facilitate timely completion of the curriculum. “There is no final decision yet. The proposal has been worked out and is under consideration of the government. Before taking any decision, the stakeholders will be taken into confidence …their views will be heard,” he said.
While maintaining that one-month summer holidays will continue like before from May to June, Lolayekar said that it is still not clear whether new adjustments would be adopted from next term or later.
“As per academic term, followed till now, the summer holidays were always from May to June. In April, schools were never closed; only students were not called as the month was categorized under non-instructional days. We have now decided to utilize this month and start the new academic term and continue post the first week of June. We will get more instructional days to complete the syllabus,” he explained.
“If you see, schools are open and teachers come to schools in April,” he added.
Lolayekar said that considering the weather phenomenon in April, classes will be held from 8 am to 11.30 am and from June, the regular school hours will commence.
“Many States like Maharashtra have also adopted a similar pattern. This will help all State Boards to align with other boards to have a common academic year and examination process,” he said while maintaining that there would be no change in other academic holidays like that of Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali or Christmas.
Meanwhile, sources informed that the State is also working on utilizing textbooks from the National Institute of Education, Research and Training and Central Board of Secondary Education.
