Bengaluru, (The Hindu): The vacation will be from October 8 to 21. School students will have a shorter Dasara vacation this year as the Department of Public Instruction has decided to reduce the number of holidays.

According to the calender of events, Dasara holidays will be from October 8 to 21. Last year, students got 22 days holidays, while this year, the vacation has been reduced to 14 days.

The move has been opposed by teachers’ associations. Basavaraj Gurikar, president of the Karnataka State Government Primary School Teachers’ Association said that reducing the number of holidays would not help improve the quality of education, instead it would place more strain on students.

Private school associations have decided to defy the calender of events issued by the department. D. Shashi Kumar, General Secretary of Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, held a similar view and said that shortening holidays was not feasible.

“We have enough working days. In some parts of the State, particularly in Kodagu district, the academic calender cannot be followed owing to rains. If schools in these areas want, they can conduct classes during Dasara to make up for the lost time,” he said.