In view of hot and humid weather, the School Edu-cation Department (SED) Punjab has issued new school timings starting May 6 when campuses re-open after Eidul Fitr holidays.
The new timings would be from 7:15 am to 12:45pm from Monday to Thursday and Saturday for girls schools while 7:30 am to 1:00 pm from Monday to Thursday and Saturday for boys schools whereas for Fridays these timings would be 7:15 am to 11:15 am for girls schools and 7:30 am to 11:30 am for boys schools.
As per the notification, these timings would be ap-plicable for all public and private schools. However, what has been observed over the years that such directions are not implemented in true spirit as far as private schools are concerned. And this is not just limited to school timings as many private school do not even follow academic session as announced by the government, hence there is no uniformity at all. This leads to problems for the students particularly those who have to transfer from private schools to public schools because of any reason.
The stakeholders have been critical of government’s inability to regulate affairs of the private schools and again this is not limited to fee structure alone. They want government’s regulatory role in affairs of private schools to keep them safe from exploitation in any manner. And this includes alternate arrangements by private schools in case of power outages during extreme hot days.
While parents have appreciated revised school tim-ings in the wake of sizzling summer they have also demanded the Schools Department to ensure that new school timings as followed by private schools too as scorching heat was dangerous for kids.
The parents have also demanded the government control energy crisis as most schools, public and private, do have arrangements in place in case of power outages which put health of the kids at great risk.
