When bullets fly, classes at schools also die

Lessons are being held regularly on Saturdays to make up for lost time and incomplete courses.

KARACHI:

If someone were to write a math textbook for Karachi’s students, the word problems would probably go like this: “If there are 180 days in an academic year, and there is a strike on 30 of them, how many days would you come to school?” or “There are 12 chapters in the syllabus, but if you get to cover only half, how many will you have learnt by the summer holidays?”

The administrations of schools across the city grapple with such problems very often and have yet to come up with a solution. Even private schools, where a massive 70 percent of all students are enrolled, are not immune to such issues.

While talking to The Express Tribune, Syed Khalid Shah, All Private Schools Management Association’s chairperson, said that the academic calendar usually spans 180 days, but because of strikes and the precarious law and order situation, the current one was chopped to 125 days. “Since January, schools have remained closed for almost 30 days because of the law and order situation and public holidays.”

The situation this year is particularly baffling: mock examinations for Matric students are still being conducted at schools but their board papers are just around the corner.



Around 300,000 Martic students will sit the board’s practical exams starting March 11. The Board of Secondary Education Karachi has already dispatched their admit cards. The schools registered with the Cambridge International Examinations have a little more space to breathe - the board’s papers begin early May.

Farah Imam, who heads the Happy Home School’s O’ level campus, said strikes also adversely impact extracurricular activities. “Schools can’t find time to organise events outside the regular academic curriculum because of frequent closure. Extra classes have to be held even on Saturdays.” Other schools have also started conducting classes over the weekend in a rush to complete courses.

When violence erupts midday, it can be quite a scary experience for children to ride back home while crisscrossing their way through burnt tyres, a shower of stones as well as tear gas shells and of course, all the na maloom afraad brandishing sticks and sometimes even TT pistols.

The principal of a school in Gulshan-e-Iqbal said, “We feel like hostages in such situations and political parties don’t even consider that students - especially young girls - face serious issues while returning home.” Uzma Razi, a mother of two, has a terrifying tale to tell. Recently, violence suddenly erupted following some statements made  by a political party. While she was on her way from the school with two children in the backseat, unidentified men descended on her car and pelted it with stones. “It seems that leaders of political and religious parties have no empathy for the feelings and aspirations of common citizens,” she said. “These political stunts have made us parents feel very anxious about whether we should even send out children to school. I’m wondering if there is any way I could teach them at home, at least until the next elections.”



Iqbal Adenwala, who manages a branch of Little Folks School in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, was against opening schools on the days a strike is called because if the law and order situation deteriorates, the lives of hundreds of children are at stake.

A number of schools in Defence Housing Authority, which generally remain indifferent to strike calls, have also come under pressure to keep schools closed in turbulent times - mainly from parents of students who reside in different localities. OASYS School’s coordinator, Majid Rasool, said, “The school’s Facebook page is updated frequently and a new status is set once the administration makes a decision about unexpected closures.” Other institutions, such as Beaconhouse School System and The City School keep students and parents updated by sending out a mass SMS.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2013.