SCERT Revises Timetable to Fit Third Language

NCF Doesn't Even Mandate Hours for the Third Language at the Foundational Level. Then Why Is the Government Insisting on Pushing It? MAHENDRA GANPULE Former spokesperson of State Principals Association

- Niraj Pandit

MUMBAI: A day after the Maharashtra government issued a revised government resolution (GR) making a third language compulsory in state-run schools, the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) on Thursday released a new daily academic timetable.

The revised schedule adjusts teaching hours across subjects to accommodate the third language from Class 1 onwards.

The changes are aimed at aligning the total annual instructional hours with the National Curriculum Framework's (NCF's) requirement of 990 academic hours. However, to allot teaching hours for the third language, the SCERT has reduced teaching time for subjects like art education, physical training, and work experience, now renamed as "work education".

As per the NCF, the third language is also supposed to be taught only from Class 5.