School timetable template, in Excel with a clash check.

How the template works

Every class's week sits on one sheet, Master: one row per class and one column for each period of each day. Each cell holds a subject and a teacher's code, such as Eng / RI. Working from one grid is what lets the file spot a teacher who is in two places at once.

• Setup holds the days, the period times, the breaks, and four lists: classes with their class teachers, teachers with their codes, subjects, and lessons.
• A lesson is a subject paired with the teacher who takes it, such as Eng / RI. The Master grid's drop-down offers the lessons you've listed, so picking from it keeps every code spelt the same way.
• Master picks up the classes from Setup. You fill in the grid, and the column at the end counts how many periods each class has filled.

Leave a period empty if a class doesn't have it. If your school works five days, clear Saturday on Setup and leave its columns empty.

How the clash check works

Below the grid, a block of grey rows keeps only the teacher code from each cell. For each period, the file counts how many times every code appears. A code that appears twice means a teacher is booked into two classes at once, and both cells turn red.

The number at the top of Master counts the periods that have a clash. The sample starts at 0. To see the check work, change VII B's Monday period 1 from SSt / TN to Eng / RI. That puts RI in VII A and VII B at once, so both cells turn red and the count goes to 1.

The check reads whatever follows the slash, so a code typed by hand works too. On the Teacher load sheet, two more checks count cells with no teacher code and codes that aren't on the Setup list. Both should stay at 0.

The template checks a timetable; it doesn't build one for you. You still decide who teaches what, and when.

Class and teacher timetables

• Class view shows one class's week. Pick the class from the drop-down and it fills in the grid, the times and breaks, the class teacher, and a key of every subject with its teacher and periods a week.
• Teacher view does the same for a teacher: which class they have in each period, their periods a week, and any clash. Print one for each teacher's desk.
• Teacher load counts every teacher's periods on each day and across the week, their busiest day, and their free periods. It's the quickest way to see who is carrying too much.

Class view and Teacher view each print on one A4 landscape page, so the class teacher can pin one up and the staff room can keep a full set.

Teaching time and the RTE Act

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 sets norms for schools in its Schedule. For an academic year, the minimums are:

That's 4 hours of instruction a day for Classes I to V, and about 4 hours 33 minutes for Classes VI to VIII, if the school opens on exactly the minimum number of days. The sample's 8 periods of 40 minutes come to 5 hours 20 minutes a day. Setup works out your weekly teaching time from the period times you enter.

For teachers, the Schedule sets a minimum of 45 teaching including preparation hours a week. It doesn't say how many of those are periods in class, so the Teacher load sheet counts periods and leaves the rule to you. Use it to keep loads even.

Using the PDF

The PDF is a blank weekly timetable for one class on A4 landscape, with Monday to Saturday down the side, eight periods across, and a row for the times. Below it there's room for the breaks and a key of subjects, teachers and periods a week, and signature lines for the timetable in-charge and the principal.

If you draft the timetable on paper first, write each lesson as subject and teacher code, the same as the Excel file. Typing it in later is quicker, and the clash check works straight away.

How to set up the timetable

1. Fill in Setup. Enter the school, session, the start and end of each period, and the breaks.
2. List classes, teachers and subjects. On Setup, type each class with its class teacher, each teacher with a short code, and each subject with a short name.
3. List the lessons. Pair each subject with the teacher who takes it, such as Eng / RI. These fill the Master drop-down.
4. Fill the Master grid. Pick a lesson for each class in each period. Leave a period empty if the class doesn't have one.
5. Clear the clashes. Keep the clash count at the top of Master at 0, then check Teacher load and print the class and teacher views.

Sources

We read each of these on 21 October 2026. Rules change, so check the latest circular before you rely on a detail.

1. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (No. 35 of 2009), Schedule: norms and standards for a school, Ministry of Law and Justice, Gazette of India Extraordinary (copy hosted by NCPCR), 27 August 2009.