PESHAWAR, Nov 28: Parents of school children have expressed concern over the long mid-day break in public schools and asked the government to save precious time of students.

"Government schools observe one hour recess, which badly affects the study of students. There is no logic of such a long break in winter. It should be shortened to 15 minutes or be done away with," said Azizur Rehman, father of a seven-year-old girl. He said his daughter reached home from school at 2pm.

According to him, his daughter has to go through tiresome situation since the start of winter season due to one-hour-long recess in her school. A teacher said the education department was following a law made in 1935 by the British rulers, though it was irrational and irrelevant in the fast changing situation. He said schoolchildren, especially minors, had nothing to do in the one-hour break, but got tired and hungry.

"On the contrary, private schools do not observe breaks because students there are happened to belong to well-off families," said, Mohammad Rafiq Khan, whose son is a student of class IV in a government primary school.

A student of class VI in a government girls school, Fuazia Begum, said that most of the students had to undergo sever ordeals during the break, because they had no activities to pass time.

This one-hour should be made part of working hours to enable students to reach their home in time, she said. Some students were found roaming in bazaars needlessly while some played video games and visited video shops during the break time, the teacher said.

When students went to bazaars, they often ate contaminated food which badly affected their health, he said. Some students developed the habit of going home during recess and not coming back to attend their classes after the break.

In this situation, a few parents are considering enrolment of their children in private schools, but they expressed inability to pay heavy amount in fee. Parents and students have appealed to the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) government to take stock of the situation and tackle the issue.