bangalore karnataka has the fourth highest number of working days for schools in the country 232 in rural schools and 231 in urban schools on an average the number of working days in india at the primary school level is 222 at the upper primary level it is 225 in urban areas and 223 in rural areas in the us the norm is 180 days experts say more instructional days help students to learn better when it comes to the urban schools jharkhand has 238 working days dadra and nagar haveli and bihar 236 and punjab and tripura 233 karnataka and gujarat share the fourth position with 231 days as for rural schools tripura has the highest number of working days 241 in a year followed by dadra and nagar haveli 238 and bihar 235 nagaland has a low of 189 kerala indias first fully literate state has its schools open on 198 days in a year the data was compiled and published by the district information system for education dise this is the first time that dise has collected data on the number of instructional days the norm in karnataka is that lower primary schools should have 220 days and upper primary schools 240 days the dise figures show what happens on the ground its normal that there is a difference between urban and rural schools says as seetaramu consultant sarva shiksha abhiyan experts say the indian numbers are ideal but emphasize that its important how school time is utilized across the world studies suggest that more instructional days do children good says maya menon founder of teachers foundation experts feel its important for children to spend more time in school says maya menon founder of teachers foundation this is especially for children from poorer backgrounds where the stimulation at home is far less than that he gets at school there are studies which have proved that learning levels in children dip after long summer breaks but the concern should be how much of this time is utilized properly for teaching m s thimmappa psychologist and former vicechancellor of bangalore university agrees its always better to have more days in schools for the kind of syllabus we have in schools it requires more days to learn and more contact with teachers in a city like bangalore what constructive work will a child do during nonworking days its either tv internet or video games the national curriculum framework suggests the number of days should be between 220 and 230 this is ideal for the mental growth of children theres sufficient time to complete the portions and give children the space to be themselves says hs rama rao director department of state education research and training