Gridlocks as schools resume after summer vacations
Traffic congestions and excited reunions were witnessed outside schools and colleges in Rawalpindi on Monday as public and private educational institutions resumed classes after a hiatus of two-and-a-half-months for summer vacations
There were gridlocks with long queues of vehicles outside major schools and colleges across the city during the afternoon. Illegal-parked vehicles with hawkers and vendors nestled in every opening add to the confusion with traffic wardens conspicuous in their absence.
This was in violation of a ban on mobile vendors selling locally-manufactured ice cream and savoury snacks, often produced with substandard ingredients in workshops and kitchens that have little regard for hygiene standards.
In all of this, children returning to schools were reunited with friends with the excitement visible in the morning as well as the afternoon.
The principals of the schools located on key arteries of the city have requested the chief traffic officer to ensure traffic wardens were deployed there to keep the traffic flowing during school timings. They also called for action over violation of one-way roads around schools.
According to the traffic police, the wardens would be posted outside the schools.
Meanwhile, parents outside schools lamented the constant upward revisions in energy prices which has seen school buses also raising fares.
In some instances, buses ferrying students from home to school had doubled fares for each student.
As a result, some parents said, they had discontinued the pick-and-drop service, instead opting to do that themselves.
Transporters, on the other hand, remained adamant about the price increase, saying that it was necessitated by the hike in fuel prices.
Petrol currently is Rs290.45/litre, a 24 per cent increase from the same time last year. Diesel has witnessed an equally sharp rise.
But the resumption in schools was some respite for the beleaguered parents, saying it would bring back their routine to waking up early and going to bed on time.
‘No short sleeves’
The education department has banned students from half-sleeved school shirts to protect the children from dengue.
It has also ordered the school management to strictly follow the anti-dengue standard operating procedures (SOPs).
In the first phase of admissions from March 1 to May 31, government schools had failed miserably in new admissions as per the target.
School year rejigged
The current academic year would be one of the shortest, lasting a little over six months from August 21 to February 28. It includes a 15-day winter vacation.
For the current year, annual exams will start in March 2024. The results will be declared on March 31 and the new academic year will start from April 1.
The Ministry of Education has announced a new phase of admissions in government schools which will continue from August 21 to October 31. The announcement follows the failure of education departments across the 36 districts of Punjab failed to achieve their enrollment targets.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 22nd, 2023.