Private schools reject three-month summer vacations

LAHORE: Pakistan’s four main private school associations have rejected the Punjab Education Department’s decision to announce summer vacations from May 22 to August 23, calling the 90-day closure harmful for academic activity and saying they will challenge the move in court.

The associations said the matter would be taken to the Lahore High Court’s principal seat as well as its Rawalpindi, Multan and Bahawalpur benches. They described the unusually long break as both questionable and condemnable, and said it would damage the education system.

The representatives also referred to earlier observations by Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench Justice Jawad Hassan, who had suggested that annual summer vacations should be reduced to less than 40 days.

Associations announce legal challenge

All Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges Association central president Dr Abrar Hussain Malik said the Punjab government’s early announcement of summer holidays should be rejected and that students should be allowed to continue their studies. He said declaring vacations at the start of May amounted to playing with students’ futures.

Dr Malik said extended breaks keep children away from classrooms for too long, which, in his view, makes them less inclined toward studies and increases their involvement in non-academic activities and screen use. He said more than 25 million children in Pakistan were already out of school and warned that such long vacations could push dropout numbers higher because some students struggle to return to routine after lengthy absences.

He further said Pakistan was ranked 156th among 193 countries in educational standards and criticised policymakers for giving greater attention to holidays than to education.

All Pakistan Private Schools Colleges Association president Irfan Muzaffar Kayani said the decision would destroy the educational system and confirmed that the issue would be taken to court. He said the vacation period should instead run from June 1 to August 14 and also called for permission to hold summer camps for students in classes nine and ten.

In a separate development, the provincial cabinet approved the school summer vacation schedule, according to background information available on the matter.

Demand for shorter closure and revised timings

All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association president Abrar Ahmed Khan said the decision went against recommendations made by a committee formed in connection with a petition heard by Justice Jawad Hassan on reducing vacations. He accused the government of moving in a direction that would harm the education sector and said the notification should be withdrawn without delay.

All Pakistan Private Schools Association Registered president Malik Naseem Ahmed said vacations would consume more than half of the academic year. He proposed that the full holiday period should apply only from class one to class six, while students from class seven to second year should have their vacations limited to two months.

He also said academic work had already been affected by three weekly holidays on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays during the past one-and-a-half months.

The associations proposed that instead of a three-month closure, the government should shorten the vacation period and revise school hours to 7am to 10am or 11am during extreme heat so that the syllabus could be completed on time.

According to the announced schedule, schools are to remain closed from May 22 until August 23.