Deadlock persists over school holidays

Govt proposes 76 summer and 17 winter vacation days

RAWALPINDI:

Despite four meetings of a high-level committee formed on the orders of Justice Jawad Hassan of the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court to reduce excessive holidays in educational institutions, consensus between the Ministry of Education and private school associations has yet to be reached.

The meeting was chaired by Punjab Education Secretary Mudassir Riaz. It was agreed that the academic calendar would consist of 215 days out of the 365 days in a year. However, a deadlock remained on the duration of summer and winter vacations.

Government representatives proposed summer holidays from June 1 to August 14 - a total of 76 days - and winter holidays from December 25 to January 10 - 17 days.

However, all associations termed these vacations excessive and proposed reducing summer holidays to 60 days and winter holidays to 10 days, suggesting that winter vacations should run from January 1 to January 10. Representatives of private institutions remained firm on this stance.

President of the All Pakistan Private Schools Association Abrar Ahmed Khan told The Express Tribune that government representatives had technically agreed with their proposal of 60 summer and 10 winter holidays and had assured that vacations would likely follow the same schedule.

The meeting, chaired by Secretary School Education Department Punjab Mudassir Riaz Malik, was attended by Special Secretary Schools Muhammad Iqbal, former provincial education minister and President Pakistan Education Council Mian Imran Masood, Central President APPSMA Kashif Adeeb Javedani, President APPSMA North Punjab Abrar Ahmed Khan, Qazi Naeem Anjum, Ali Raza, Abdul Mannan, Senior Law Officer Punjab Education Department Muhammad Asif Iqbal, Assistant Advocate General Punjab Hashim Javed and DPI Secondary and Elementary.

The proposed academic calendar for 2026-27 was presented before the committee, suggesting 215 academic days including examinations, summer vacations from June 1 to August 15 (76 days) and winter vacations from December 25 to January 10 (17 days). Committee members disagreed with the proposal and recommended limiting summer vacations to two months, while allowing a one-month summer camp for students of classes nine and ten.

They also proposed that winter vacations should be observed from January 1 to January 10 instead of starting on December 25.

APPSMA central president Kashif Adeeb Javedani also suggested that the district registration authority system should be reassigned from the deputy commissioner to the education authority CEO so that registration cases of private institutions could be resolved on time.

School Education Department Secretary Mudassir Riaz Malik welcomed the suggestions of stakeholders and appreciated the services of private educational institutions.

He indicated that the committee's recommendations - including limiting summer vacations to two months and shifting winter vacations to January - were accepted in principle.