A Proposal That Deserves a Serious Debate
There is nothing wrong with asking whether children are tired. There is nothing wrong with asking whether our school system puts too much pressure on young minds. These are perfectly legitimate questions, and any education system that takes children seriously should ask them. Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
Pampore MLA Hasnain Masoodi has proposed that schools in Jammu and Kashmir should work for five days a week, with Saturday and Sunday as weekly holidays. His argument is that students spend long hours studying and become exhausted. Education Minister Sakeena Itoo has said the proposal will be examined by the Directorates of School Education Kashmir and Jammu before any decision is taken.
The proposal therefore deserves a proper public discussion. But before deciding whether Kashmir needs another weekly holiday, perhaps we should ask a more basic question:
How much classroom time are our children actually getting?
How Many Days Are Kashmir’s Children Already Away From School?
This question cannot be answered simply by counting Saturdays and Sundays. Kashmir has a particular academic calendar, with long winter and summer vacations, government holidays and the occasional closure caused by weather or other circumstances.
For Classes 1 to 8 in Kashmir Division, the winter vacation covering the beginning of 2026 accounted for 59 days from January to February, while the summer vacation from 6 July to 26 July added another 21 days. That means 80 vacation days within the 2026 calendar year alone.
Then there are 52 Sundays.
The Government of Jammu and Kashmir’s 2026 holiday order also includes a number of UT-wide and Kashmir-specific holidays. However, it would be misleading to simply add every listed holiday to the total because some holidays fall on weekends or overlap with existing non-working days.
The important point is not to produce a frightening holiday figure.
The important point is that Kashmir already has substantial breaks from regular classroom teaching.
So, if Saturday is also made a regular holiday, the Education Department needs to ask what that means for the total number of effective teaching days.
Kashmir Has Already Lost Too Many School Days
For many years, education in Kashmir faced a problem that had little to do with the school timetable.
Hartals, shutdowns, protests, security situations, bad weather and other disruptions repeatedly affected normal schooling. Generations of Kashmiri children experienced interruptions that children in many other parts of the country did not have to deal with to the same extent.
But it is important to be fair about the present situation.
The frequent hartal culture of the past has declined considerably since 2019. It would be wrong to write as if Kashmir’s schools are still being closed regularly because of the same pattern of disruptions.
That change is important.
And precisely because there is now greater opportunity for educational continuity, the focus should be on making the available school days count.
The Question Is No Longer Just About Holidays
This is where the debate becomes more serious.
If a child is tired, we should ask why.
Is the school day too long?
Is homework excessive?
Are examinations creating unnecessary pressure?
Are children spending too much time memorising instead of understanding?
Are classrooms making the best use of the hours available?
These questions may be more useful than simply asking whether Saturday should be removed from the school week.
A child certainly needs rest. Children need time to play, spend time with their families, pursue hobbies and simply be children.
But there is another reality that we should not ignore.
School time is also precious.
What Do the Learning Figures Tell Us?
The ASER 2024 findings for rural Jammu and Kashmir provide an important reason to look carefully at the question of learning time.
According to the report, only 21.8 per cent of Class V children in government schools could read a Class II-level text, while the corresponding figure for private-school children was 60.3 per cent.
These figures should not be used to blame teachers, parents or children. They are simply a reminder that learning outcomes remain an important challenge.
And when learning outcomes are a concern, every discussion about reducing classroom time deserves careful examination.
The question should not be:
“Can children survive with one fewer school day?”
It should be:
“Will children still get enough effective teaching and learning time?”
Kashmir Cannot Ignore Its Academic Calendar
There is another figure worth remembering.
A report published by Kashmir Life in 2025, citing an official, said Jammu and Kashmir had recorded fewer than 150 working academic days in 2024–25 against a stated 220-day requirement. Weather conditions, flood-like situations and extended summer vacations were among the factors mentioned.
The report also quoted an official view that at least 180 working days could be considered fairly good.
That does not mean every year will look the same.
It does, however, show why the number of actual teaching days matters.
If schools lose days because of unavoidable circumstances, that is one thing.
If we voluntarily remove another regular teaching day every week, that is a different question.
Five-Day Weeks Are Not the Real Problem
There is nothing inherently wrong with a five-day school week.
Many education systems around the world operate on five-day schedules.
So the argument should not be that a five-day week is somehow unacceptable or that six-day schooling is automatically better.
The real issue is total instructional time and learning quality.
If Kashmir moves to a five-day week, the government would need to consider how the lost instructional time would be managed.
Would school hours increase on the remaining days?
Would the academic calendar be adjusted?
Would the curriculum be reorganised?
Would additional learning support be provided?
Or would children simply receive fewer hours of classroom teaching?
These are the questions that matter.
Are Kashmir’s Children Getting Enough Time to Learn?
There is another uncomfortable question that we should not avoid.
Children in Kashmir are not competing only with children from neighbouring districts anymore.
They are competing in examinations, universities, professional courses and increasingly global environments with students from across India and beyond.
A child from Srinagar, Anantnag or Baramulla will eventually sit for many of the same competitive examinations as a child from Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad or Mumbai.
Nobody will give the Kashmiri student extra marks simply because the Valley has faced years of disruption.
That is why educational recovery matters.
We should certainly protect children from unnecessary academic pressure.
But protecting children from pressure should not accidentally mean reducing the opportunity they have to learn.
Perhaps We Should Improve the School Day Instead
If students really are exhausted, perhaps the solution is not simply to take away Saturday.
Perhaps we should make the school day better.
Less unnecessary homework.
More meaningful classroom teaching.
Better teaching methods.
More opportunities for sports and creative activities.
Less rote learning.
More attention to reading and mathematics.
Better support for children who are falling behind.
And perhaps, above all, a school environment in which children actually want to learn.
That would address the problem at its root.
The Education Department Should Publish the Numbers
Before making such an important change, the government could put the facts before the public.
How many instructional days do Kashmir’s schools actually have?
How many are lost each year because of vacations, holidays, weather and other closures?
How many classroom hours do students receive?
What are the latest learning outcomes?
What would happen to total instructional time under a five-day week?
And if Saturday becomes a holiday, how would the lost teaching time be recovered?
These are reasonable questions.
The answers would make the debate far more meaningful than simply arguing over whether children deserve another day at home.
Our Children Need Rest — But They Also Need Stronger Education
Masoodi’s concern about student fatigue deserves to be heard.
At the same time, concerns about lost instructional time deserve to be heard as well.
This should not become a personal argument about Hasnain Masoodi.
It should not become a battle between politicians and their critics.
And it certainly should not become an argument in which children are forgotten.
The real issue is much bigger.
What kind of education do we want for Kashmir’s children?
Do we want them to spend fewer days in school?
Or do we want the days they spend there to become so much better that they leave school with stronger reading, writing, mathematics, confidence and understanding?
Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in between.
The Question Kashmir Should Be Asking
Kashmir has already experienced years when education was repeatedly interrupted. The situation has changed, and that is something worth recognising.
Now that there is a greater opportunity for continuity, perhaps we should be particularly careful about how we use every available school day.
If children are exhausted, let us find out why.
If teachers are overburdened, let us address that.
If the curriculum is too heavy, let us reform it.
If school hours are poorly structured, let us improve them.
But before removing another regular teaching day, let us first establish what that change will mean for the child sitting in the classroom.
Because in the end, this debate is not really about Saturday or Sunday.
It is about whether Kashmir’s children are getting enough time, enough support and enough quality education to compete with the rest of the world.
And that is a question far too important to answer simply by adding another holiday.
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