School working time: Min to hold meeting today
He is holding the meeting in view of the protest raised by Muslim religious outfits and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) against the changes in school timing.
Sivankutty, who initially blamed the high court for the revised time schedule introduced in schools this year, however, frequently changed his stance later.
He initially said that the govt had no plans to introduce changes in the working time post haste but the HC wanted the changes to be implemented this year itself or else the general education principal secretary would be summoned to the court to explain the reasons.
The minister, who was apologetic about govt's decision to extend the class timing by 15 minutes each in the forenoon and afternoon, later assumed a rigid stance, saying that state govt cannot fix school timing as per the wishes of religious organizations.
Muslim religious organization Samastha EK faction president Jifry Muthukkoya Thangal was the first to protest against the change in school timing. He gave a letter to the chief minister, requesting a revisit of the decision as the change in school timing would affect Madrassa education for Muslim students.
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Other Muslim organisations and the IUML later raised the same demand, forcing the state govt to hold discussions.
A seemingly recalcitrant Sivankutty, however, still claims that the discussion with Muslim bodies would be to educate them about why it's not possible to retract the changes in the school working schedule. However, Muslim religious organizations, especially Samastha, said they were hopeful of convincing govt why current changes were causing inconvenience to madrassa education.
One of Samastha's suggestions is that instead of adding 15 minutes each to morning and afternoon sessions, the schools should work for 30 minutes extra in the afternoon session. The meeting with school management representatives, including the representatives of religious bodies, is scheduled to take place here at 4.30pm.
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