Schools plan summer camps amid heatwave

Minister urges owners to wait for govt approval

LAHORE:

A number of private schools in the province have announced plans to organise summer camps without getting approval from the Punjab government.

According to Punjab School Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat, the ministry has not allowed any private school to set up summer camps, nor announced any policy in this regard.

He said the school administrations should not announce plans for the summer camps without approval.

"Our meetings about summer camps are under way and the decision to allow the camps summer will be made by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif," he added.

The groups of private schools earlier had refused to shut their institutions last week when the authorities concerned had issued a heatwave alert. The owners had claimed that they were organising exams of the students.

The Punjab government had allowed them to conduct the exams while all public sector schools were shut on May 25 for summer vacations because of the extremely hot weather.

However, the private schools were kept open after the exams and now a number of big chains have advised the parents to send their children to the summer camps.

In view of the harsh weather, universities in the province have also stopped academic activities on campus and started online classes.

The schools have planned the summer camps despite the temperate soaring above 45 degrees Celsius in various cities.

A number of private schools have also not announced the dates of summer vacations.

"The school administration is continuing to follow the normal time table, disregarding the government policy regarding the vacations amidst the harsh weather. Their main aim appears to be to ensure thd collection of fee," said the mother of a school child, Sofia Khan.

She said the students and their parents apprehended that not attending the summer camps because of the hot weather might affect their results in the next exams.

Meanwhile, officials in the Punjab Higher Education Department said the universities had been allowed to conduct classes online till Eidul Azha because of the heatwave.

However, the president of an association of private school owners, Kashif Adeeb Jawdani, said, "In the past we organized summer camps for students of higher grades without any fee and their purpose was preparation for the exams.”

The said the academic year of the schools had shrunk because of holidays. “We teach just for 140 days in a year, while internationally an academic year is of 240 days,” he added.

He said the government had shit the schools because of smog, elections and the hot weather.

The school owners’ representative said it had never happened earlier that the schools had been stopped before the scheduled summer vaccinations began.

He said a large number of students failed in the matriculation examinations because the course could not be completed in the classes. He asked how the courses could be completed in 140 working days.

He said the private schools should be allowed to organise the summer camps because it would be in ten interest of the students and not the managements of the institutions.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2024.