KP schools to hold June summer camps to make up for learning losses

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Elementary and Secondary Education Department has issued guidelines for summer camps in public and private schools across the province’s summer zone to address learning losses caused after the school week was reduced to four days during the petroleum crisis that followed the Iran-US war.

According to a notification, the arrangements will apply during June. Elementary and Secondary Education Secretary Mohammad Khalid said students had lost instructional time because of the fuel crisis and that schools would use part of the summer vacation period to recover that time through morning camps. He said the department would focus on foundational literacy and numeracy to improve student learning levels and that teachers would concentrate mainly on key subjects to strengthen academic performance.

Khalid also said an enrolment campaign was already under way and that school closures could affect that drive. He added that an assessment would be conducted at the end of the camps to measure their impact.

Under the guidelines, students in KG, grade I and grade II will not attend the camps. Students in grades III, IV and V, as well as middle school students in grades VI, VII and VIII, will attend classes in English, Urdu, mathematics and general science or general knowledge from 7am to 9am. Each class will last 30 minutes.

Focus on remedial learning

The notification says foundational literacy and numeracy for primary classes and remedial learning will be the main focus areas. It adds that an activity-based and project-based teaching approach will be used to cover learning losses in the 2025-26 academic year.

Middle school students will attend the camps from June 1, 2026, to June 30, 2026, under the prescribed schedule. Schools have also been directed to provide a comprehensive orientation on new courses and student learning outcomes in English, Urdu, mathematics and general science. The department has instructed schools to place special emphasis on conceptual understanding, student learning outcome-based instruction, diagnostic assessment, and activity- and project-based teaching to improve student understanding and academic results.

Students in high and higher secondary classes will also attend the camps under the notified schedule. However, intermediate students appearing in annual practical examinations will be exempt only on the days of their practical exams in the ongoing annual examinations.

Restrictions and monitoring plan

The department has directed schools to limit summer camp activities to teaching and learning. Students are not to be involved in morning assemblies, sports events, Bazm-i-Adab programmes, guest speaker sessions or other co-curricular activities so that maximum time is devoted to academics.

The Directorate of Curriculum and Teacher Education, Abbottabad, will assess schools on the basis of tasks assigned during the camps. The evaluation process is to be completed by June 29, 2026, and submitted to the competent authority. On the basis of that evaluation, the best teachers and students at district level will receive awards and cash prizes.

District education officers will organise closing ceremonies in their respective districts on June 30, 2026. These events will include award distribution, exhibitions of student projects and jubilation activities highlighting the camps’ achievements and outcomes. The provincial government’s representative at district level will distribute awards and certificates among top-performing teachers and students.

All teachers have been directed to remain present and carry out duties assigned by school heads during the camp period. School managements have been told to ensure basic facilities including clean drinking water, functional washrooms and electricity.

The notification further says officers of the education directorate and district education offices, including assistant sub-divisional education officers and school leaders, must visit schools during the camps and spend at least two hours each day there to facilitate, monitor and support implementation. District education officers have been asked to prepare detailed visit schedules and ensure strict compliance, while the director general of the Education Monitoring Authority will deploy monitoring staff to visit schools and submit a comprehensive report at the conclusion of the exercise.

The department has also directed all schools, public and private, to run a comprehensive enrolment campaign during the camps to meet targets set by the education department. It has said that summer camp timings must not be extended beyond 10am under any circumstances.