Draft curriculum doc proposes 5.5-day school week, longer periods Class 9 onwards

The draft National Curriculum Framework (NCF) suggests that students should attend school for five and a half days a week, with Saturdays as a half-day of study.

This amounts to 29 hours of instruction time per week. The framework also recommends that class periods should be 40 minutes for preparatory and middle school stages, and 50 minutes for Class 9 onwards.

The previous NCF, as released in 2005, gave schools more leeway in timetabling the school day and academic year. It only insisted that the school day be at least six hours and class time at least 45 minutes.

By contrast, the new draft NCF provides a specific framework for the school day and academic year.

The document, which is now open for comments from the public, suggests the academic year should consist of 180 school days or 34 weeks across all stages of education.

At the Preparatory and Middle stages, all weekdays are to begin with an assembly for 25 minutes. Each period is to last for 40 minutes.

Some subjects will require a block period- class time is then extended to 80 minutes.

The transition time for students to prepare for the next class is 5 minutes.

A 15 minute snack break and 45 minute lunch break are built into the timetable. On Saturdays, there are no assemblies and lunch is 30 minutes.

Class 9 onwards, the weekday will also begin with a 25 minute assembly. Class time is however 50 minutes; block periods are hence 100 minutes.

The transition time for students to prepare for the next class is 5 minutes. No time has been allocated for a snack break, but lunch has been extended to 55 minutes.

On Saturdays, there are no assemblies and lunch is 30 minutes.

The school day has also been extended to account for an ‘Additional Enrichment Period’ every evening.

This is for students to use as additional time for enrichment in any subject on the curriculum.