Draft NCF proposes 5.5 days a week for schools

The draft National Curriculum Framework (NCF) has suggested that students attend school for five and a half days in a week, with Saturdays being half-days of study. A total instruction time should be 29 hours per week. It has further recommended that class periods last 40 minutes for preparatory and middle school stages, and 50 minutes from class 9 onwards.

The last NCF which was released in 2005 gave schools much leeway in timetabling the school day and the academic year. It insisted that a school day be at least six hours and each class period last at least 45 minutes.

However, the new draft provides a specific framework. The document is now open for comments from the public as it suggests that the academic year must comprise 180 school days or 34 weeks across all stages of education.