Punjab govt may cut summer vacations in educational institutes

LAHORE: A committee formed on the directions of the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi Bench has recommended a uniform academic calendar for schools and colleges in Punjab, and educational institutions should have 190 teaching days in a year.

As per reports, the committee has also proposed a significant cut in the summer holidays, suggesting that the existing two and a half months of holidays be reduced to six weeks.

The committee has conducted three meetings in the last four months and has finalized its proposals in the third meeting held in Lahore. The meeting was presided over by the Secretary of School Education, and the Special Secretary of School Education, Muhammad Iqbal, supervised the meeting.

According to the new calendar, the total number of holidays in a year would be restricted to 175 days, while the number of teaching days would remain unchanged at 190.

The committee noted that the increasing number of holidays in the past few years has harmed the education system, especially in the higher classes, where the delay in completing the syllabus has affected the performance of students.

The private educational institutions have welcomed the recommendations and said that a balanced and uniform academic calendar would help improve the quality of education and complete the curriculum on time.

After the submission of the recommendations, Special Secretary Muhammad Iqbal has directed the Punjab Education Curriculum and Testing Authority (PECTA) and the Director Public Instruction (Elementary & Secondary) to prepare a draft of the uniform academic calendar in three days.

The committee was formed by Justice Jawad Hassan during the course of hearings on a constitutional petition regarding the rise in holidays in the educational institutions of Punjab.

The report is likely to be placed before the court in the next hearing, and then a final decision will be taken regarding the new academic calendar.