Cold wave mars school reopening
Extreme cold weather and dense fog marred the reopening of schools across Punjab after the winter vacations on Monday with less than 40 per cent students attending the classes.
Teachers and parents said inadequate infrastructure in schools, shortage of classrooms and lack of heating arrangements had exposed the children to health risks like cough and fever. Some of them called for extending the vacations or revising the morning school timings to protect the students from the cold weather.
Both the students and teachers struggled to resume academic activities after the government and private schools reopened following the winter vacations.
According to sources in the Punjab School Education Department, less than 40 per cent attendance of students of primary classes and around 50% in high schools was recorded on the first day after the vacations.
The weather was extremely cold in the morning with dense fog aggravating the problems in several districts of the province. Parents in Lahore division sent their children to the schools amid smog and low temperature.
There had earlier been speculations about the possibility of a week-long extension of the winter vacations because of the weather and environmental conditions but Punjab School Education Minister Sardar Murad Raas announced that the institutions would reopen as scheduled.
The cold weather more severely affected the students in the remote districts where thousands of schools are operating in inadequate buildings with insufficient classrooms. "Thousands of students in Punjab’s remote villages go to schools on public transport, motorcycles and bicycles and it is very difficult for them to travel in the cold weather.,” a school headmistress said while speaking to The Express Tribune.
She said the conditions were more difficult for the young children and girls. The headmistress said the disruption of the public transport system because of fog had also contributed to the low attendance in the schools.
The students who reached the schools faced hardship because of shortage of classrooms, dilapidated buildings and lack of heating arrangements.
“We had also opposed reopening of schools today and demanded that they should be kept closed for another week as there was a forecast of the extreme cold weather and fog persisting in the coming days,” she added.
A private schoolteacher, Sumera Malik, said, "Every second student in my class was sick and coughing. The students were shivering during the classes and out school has made no arrangements to protect them from the cold weather.”
She said the teachers were also facing problems in carrying on the academic conditions.
The teacher said a number of parents had also complained of the risks faced by their children because of the inclement weather.
“We are obeying the restrictions announced by the Punjab government to bind the students and teachers to wear masks in the schools because of the smog but there is no protection from the cold weather,” she added.
"It is correct that the attendance in schools was low and most of the students arrived late,” Punjab Teachers Union secretary general Rana Liaqat Ali said.
He said the government should reduce the school hours because the current timetable was not suitable for the season.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 10th, 2023.