Private schools start vacations today

LAHORE: In defiance of a Punjab government notification, private schools in the province announced summer vacations from today (Thursday).

According to a statement issued by APPSF President Kashif Mirza, private schools in the country would start summer vacations from Thursday (today) and the holidays will continue till July 31, 2017.

“APPSF declared that summer vacations will start all over Pakistan Private Schools from June 1 to July 31, 2017 and private schools will reopen on August 1, 2017, as per the regular schedule,” he said.

“Schools were allowed to conduct and complete their exams as per the regular schedule,” he added.

The Punjab government, through a notification issued on May 17 by Punjab School Education (SED) Secretary Dr Allah Bakhsh Malik, directed public and private schools to observe summer vacations from May 25 till August 14, 2017.



According to the notification, “summer vacation will be observed in all the schools/educational institutions (government/privately managed) in Punjab with effect from May 25 to August 14.” The decision was taken due to the sizzling heat and long fasting hours.

Earlier, the provincial government issued orders that summer vacations would begin from May 22, but soon withdrew it. In a press conference on May 5, Punjab School Education Minister Rana Mashhood said the Punjab government had given conditional permission to private schools for summer camps.

Mashhood, while talking to a delegation of All Punjab Private School Management Association at the Children’s Library, said that the government would not permit private schools to hold summer camps on campus. “If the owners of private schools want to hold summer camps, then they will not take fees from the children or otherwise face stern action,” he announced.

The Punjab government formed teams which would monitor schools in summers and raids would also be conducted to check private institutes, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2017.