Many schools will not start their new courses until after Eid despite the fact that they have reopened after summer vacations on August 1. The dilemma for schoolchildren and their parents is that they have been braving muggy weather conditions daily in the holy month of Ramadan and bearing travel expenses while the new terms of schools won’t start until after the Eid holidays from August 31st to September 3rd.
Pakistan Today found many students and their parents complaining that the summer vacations could have been extended until after Eid, since the new courses were not starting immediately after the early reopening.
The nuisance for students is causing thin attendance at the schools. The students say the schools’ closing hours too are inconvenient for them. The situation is not different at the private schools as well.
Mrs Ikhlas, a mother of two, told Pakistan Today that she had to pick and drop her daughter studying at the Lahore Grammar School (LGS). She said it seemed an ordeal to her when she came to know that new course would start after Eid days. The situation has become worse for students whose schools are situated at under-construction roads particularly in the Garden Town and Model Town areas.
Some parents also dubbed their children’s school as “camp jail” citing the problems they had to face during the rush hours. A father, who picks his two sons from a school, said the Lahore traffic police and schools should jointly devise a plan avoid the traffic mess during the rush hours. He said there should be proper parking space around schools.
The senior boys’ branch of the Lahore Grammar School (LGS) in Johar Town causes huge traffic mess since its reopening last week.
Parents criticised school’s authorities, saying that it was quite unfortunate that despite charging exorbitant fee, they could not chalk out a plan to ease the traffic flow around the facility.