Students of ICSE schools that follow the January to December calendar will have to spend an additional three months in the same class this academic year, and not because any of them need extra lessons.

The three-month addition to the school schedule is because of a change in policy by the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations, making it mandatory for all affiliates to follow a uniform calendar starting in the middle of March and latest by June 15.

Gerry Arathoon, secretary and chief executive of the council, said the decision was meant to end the inconvenience of shifting from a school that follows one calendar to one with a different academic schedule. “The CISCE is a national board and we want our affiliated schools spread across the country to follow a uniform academic calendar. Every school must start its academic session in mid-March and can at the most stretch it to mid-June,” he told Metro on Tuesday.

Many Calcutta schools won’t be affected by the decision but those in transition will either have to stretch the current academic session beyond December or give their students an extended three-month break before commencing the next one.

Loreto House, one of these institutions, has already informed its students that the current session will continue till March 2014. Calcutta Girls’ High School hasn’t yet issued a notice but is understood to have decided the same.

The council hasn’t announced a timeline yet but sooner-the-better seems to be the official line, although the decision apparently isn’t to the liking of schools that had opted for the December-January routine or were planning to do so.

“The January-December calendar is the preferred option of most parents, mainly because the winter vacation starts after the final exams are done with. If you ask them, 90 per cent of the parents would vote for a winter break for their wards without the anxiety of an impending exam,” said a senior teacher at Calcutta Girls’ High School.

St. James’ School is one of the reputable city institutions that will need to do some adjusting to switch to the uniform calendar recommended by the ICSE council.

“Winter is the perfect time for children to participate in sports and other physical activities. If there is an exam ahead in February or in March, it’s a bit of a spoilsport,” said Sutanuka Banerjee, whose son studies at St. James’.

Some heads of institutions say final exams in March are not ideal for health reasons. “That is the time when viral outbreaks and ailments associated with the change of season occur. Many students take ill and we are deluged with requests to hold a separate exam for them,” said a principal who requested that she not be named.

Another common gripe is that a session starting mid-March reduces the number of teaching and learning days for students in Class X. “A January to December session gives Class X students more time to complete their syllabus. After the switch, they will miss out on the January-March study period because the Class X selection test will have to be held after the winter break anyway,” said Gouri Basu, vice-principal of Loreto House.

Schools in favour of the January to December session also argue that it is not ideal for any institution to start classes in mid-March or April and close for the summer vacation soon after.

In Calcutta, most schools have their summer break from the second fortnight of May till mid-June.

“If the session starts in January we get three uninterrupted months. We can complete the syllabus and have our terminal exam when the school reopens after the summer vacation. In a mid-March session, the terminal exam will get delayed,” said Basanti Biswas, principal of Calcutta Girls’ High School.

For those in favour of the mid-March start, there are administrative advantages in the switch.

“Many senior teachers are busy with evaluation and other exam-related work in March and April. If a session is in full swing during this period, as happens in schools with a January to December calendar, the absence of senior teachers affects the students. A mid-March or April start would solve this problem because the pace of academic activity is slow at the beginning of a session,” explained Melvin D’ Souza, senior-school academic coordinator at St. Xavier’s Collegiate School.

The academic session in most of the 300-odd ICSE schools in the state currently commences in April but some institutions have shifted to the January to December calendar over the past six years. Many others had been planning to follow suit until Arathoon’s announcement of a uniform schedule countrywide at the annual general meeting of the Association of Heads of ICSE Schools.