India is a country of diversity; it has vast diversity in its culture as well as festivals. Different part of the country has a different culture and their religious believes. The education system of the country has a set of rules to deal with the diversity of the country and allow everyone to enjoy equal rights. The education system has ensured a different level of holiday scheme which would fit into all the states and its cultural values. Though there are few who are always left out because of this uniform academic calendar.
According to academic calendar issued by the government, all the schools of the country including all private, semi-government and government schools with some exception functions in the same manner. The number of holidays and examination routine, as well as the working days through the country, is almost same.
Recently the state government of Karnataka has allowed the schools to have their own academic calendar. Schools can now choose the date and duration of holidays for their respective students. Due to the uniform academic calendar, there were some hurdles in managing few sections of the society. Schools which are parts of plains and have more summer days get long summer vacation where all the schools of north-eastern states and some other hills station get longer winter vacation. Similarly, when it comes to the festival, schools get a long vacation for festivals such as Durga Puja and Diwali.
Though the country has different religious believes in all the section of society and hence the sentiments of few may get hurt due to this uniform academic calendar. A missionary school with maximum Christian students are now allowed to have a long Christmas break. Under the scheme, the schools can prepare a customized academic calendar for their students and should meet Deputy Director of Public Instructions (DDPI) for deciding the same.
Though there are some rules and regulations to be followed by respective institutes, under no circumstance the schools will be allowed to change the curriculum and should manage the number of teaching days in any scenario. The study and exams should be managed along with the holidays and no compromisation would be made on working days. The step has been taken by the state government to ensure the functioning of schools with compromise in working days.
Though the schools had their own academic calendar based on academic calendar issued by the government, the state government has issued a new calendar for a number of holidays as well. The schools are required to discuss the calendar and number of holidays ahead of the curriculum of the academic year. The step of government is cherished by many people and students are excited about the upcoming academic year, as they can now enjoy holidays according to their festive rituals. Several minority communities never got privileged holidays for festivals but now they may expect some privilege in terms of a number of holidays.