Pakistan announces one-month summer break for schools

Summer vacations for Pakistan students this year will begin from July 2 and last till July 31, the federal government announced on Saturday.

A notification issued by the Federal Directorate of Education revealed the academic calendar for the year. This is what the schedule looks like:

• May 18 to 31: centralised examinations for classes V to VIII
• June 1 to 15: in-house examinations for classes I, II, III, IV, VI, and VII
• June 30: results for entralised exams)
• July 1: results for in-house exams
• August 2: new academic year begins

On the other hand, the All Pakistan Private Schools Federation Kashif Mirza has rejected the date for the start of the new session in August and said that for private schools the session with start in April 2021.

“Due to the coronavirus lockdown, over five million students across the country have suffered educational losses.”

He added that the course books for a uniform syllabus have still not been introduced in the market.

Pakistan schools and coronavirus

All educational institutions across the country were closed in late February after coronavirus cases began to rise. They were reopened in phases starting September 15.

Universities, colleges, and classes IX and X resumed from September 15. Students from classes VI to VIII were called to schools from September 23 and the students enrolled below class VI started on September 30.

To compensate for the lost time, Pakistan’s educational institutions decided to remain open on Saturdays and not have winter vacations.

On November 23, after the second wave of coronavirus cases hit the country, the government announced that all educational institutions would close again from November 26.

Classes were taken online till December 24 and winter vacations started from December 25 and were supposed to last till January 10. The government said it would hold a meeting to review the decision to reopen schools on January 4.

The NCOC then decided that schools would reopen in phases with classes nine to 12 being the first to reopen on January 18. Primary and higher classes were to be opened on February 1.