Punjab government is facing pressure from the side of school teachers to close educations institutions for summer holidays in the mid of May due to the load shedding and increasing hot weather in the province, Pakistan Today learnt on Tuesday.
“Thousands of teachers and students have demanded for the summer vacations to start early because of the rising mercury,” sources in the Punjab School Education Department said.
“We have to make students sit under trees and outside in the verandas because it is very hot in the classes,” a school teacher said, adding “if they cannot ensure continuous supply of electricity they should let us stay at home.”
Parents and educationists have also condemned the government over the issue of power outages since the grades and the academic record of students were getting affected.
“Punjab government should give relief to people by shutting down schools in the middle of May because all stakeholders agree that it is cruelty to children to send them to schools in the summer heat with no electricity,” sources in the Punjab Education Department said.
“We have been receiving complaints that the academic activities in the schools are down to zero since it is too hot for anything,” an official in the Education Department said, adding that senior officials in the department were considering the option of shutting down schools early.
Normally, summer vacations begin in Punjab in the middle of June.
Intermediate examinations for eight boards are also being held all over the provinces and students have complained of power outages affecting their study and concentration. “There is no electricity in the examination centres also and it is very suffocating. There have been incidents of students fainting due to the heat,” said Saif, an Intermediate student.
“There is no water in our school and children cry because of the heat and load shedding. In such circumstances I cannot ask the teachers to be harsh to them because it is unbearable hot,” a school principal asking not to be named told Pakistan Today.
“Teachers and the education sector in general have suffered in the hands of the present government. We are already set for holding a massive rally on May 12 to protest against the government and early summer vacations are on the agenda,” Punjab Teaches Union Chief Organiser Allah Rakha Gujjar said
“The summer vacations will be held according to the schedule, in the second week of June. If there is a change in plan, it will be communicated,” Education EDO Pervaiz Akhtar said, brushing aside all complaints.
