Ramadan, monsoon keep attendance short at schools

Poor attendance at educational institutes of the city marred the first academic week after the summer vacations, Pakistan Today learned on Friday.
Students and parents condemned reopening of schools during Ramadan and monsoon. The situation was no different at private schools where the reopening date was being changed again and again. Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had rejected the summary of extension of summer vacations, whereas the federal government had extended the holidays till September 4.
Parents bawled out the government saying students were being forced to study in intense heat only to make up for time teachers spent at census and polio drives during the year. Parents were also confused whether to send their children to schools or not. Most of the government and private schools observed around 20 percent attendance during the first academic week.
On the other hand, office-bearers of the All-Pakistan Private Schools Management Association (APPSMA) also differed on the date of reopening of the schools. The APPSMA Rawalpindi president said private schools would reopen on September 5, whereas APPSMA President Adeeb Jawadani announced to reopen the schools on the scheduled date.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Javedani said the APPSMA Rawalpindi president was mistaken and he had sent the academic schedule to all office-bearers of the APPSMA. He admitted that attendance at private schools was not satisfactory and asked the schools’ administration to take action against parents who were not sending their children to school.
Government school teacher Denson told Pakistan Today that very low attendance was witnessed in the first few days. He hoped that the situation would improve after the Eid holidays. He said despite low attendance, teachers were continuing with academic activities at schools.
Citizens said government wanted to accomplish 210 academic days and had therefore reopened schools during Ramadan. Heavy rains early this week also demoralised students and some parents decided to send their children to school after the Eid vacations.
Lahore Executive District Officer (EDO) (Education) Pervez Akhter said: “Attendance in the first week is always short. It will improve in the coming days.” He said that if the government had opened the schools after Eid, the situation would not have been much different as students always took time to settle down after the holidays.