RAWALPINDI:
A high-level committee formed on the orders of the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court has finalized recommendations for a province-wide academic calendar comprising 190 working days in schools and colleges across Punjab.
The proposals include a reduction of the summer holiday from two and a half months to six weeks or a month and a half.
The committee held three meetings over the past four months and presented its joint recommendations at the third meeting. According to the new proposals, educational institutions across the province will observe a total of 175 public holidays annually, while the total number of teaching and academic working days will be fixed at 190. All private school associations in Punjab have accepted the proposed framework.
Punjab School Education Department Special Secretary Muhammad Iqbal has directed PECTA and Director Public Instruction (Seconary and Elementary) to formulate a uniform academic calendar of 190 working days for educational institutions across Punjab within three days in view of the recommendations of all committee members.
The committee noted that the continuous increase in vacations every year had harmed the academic system, where the syllabus for senior classes often remained incomplete.
The committee was constituted by Justice Jawad Hassan on a petition filed in the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench against the unnecessary increase in holidays in Punjab’s educational institutions.
The third meeting of the committee constituted under the chairmanship of Secretary School Education was held in Lahore under Punjab School Education Special Secretary Muhammad Iqbal.
Attendees included former Education Minister of Punjab Province and President Pakistan Education Council Mian Imran Masood, Central President APSMA Kashif Adeeb Javedani, President North Punjab Abrar Ahmad Khan, representatives of major private school chains, Pakistan Chamber of Education Chairman Ali Raza and an Assistant Solicitor General.
Participants expressed serious concerns about the increase during the summer vacation and recent winter vacations, noting that the academic process could have been maintained through adjustments to teaching hours, which was not done.
APSMA President Abrar Ahmad Khan said educational institutions in Islamabad were given only 10 days of winter vacation, while in neighboring Rawalpindi, despite improved weather conditions, a full month’s vacation was given, which he termed excessive.
The meeting proposed a 190-day educational calendar for schools and colleges in Punjab.
