KARACHI, Jan 8: Attendance in schools and other educational institutes remained thin on Monday due to the unusually cold weather after the institutions opened after the winter vacation that started on December 22.

Pakistan has been in the grip of cold wave for the last couple of days and even in Karachi, where weather remains moderate as compared to the rest of the country, cold winds compelled parents to keep their children indoors instead of sending out to their respective educational institutions.

Even at the University of Karachi, where the academic session starts at the beginning of new year, the attendance remained thin and classes at many departments could not be held due to the lack of students and in some cases, the absence of teachers, who preferred to stay at home.

Parents were expecting an extension in the winter vacation and they remained waiting for an announcement in this regard but to their surprise, despite the chilly weather in the morning, they had to send their children to schools.

The meteorological department has forecast cold weather for the entire country, including Karachi, for the next 48 hours, saying the cold wave will temporarily subside but January 2007 will remain more cold than many previous years.

However, Sindh education department officials said there was no use of extending the winter vacation as the academic session had already shrunk owing to various religious and national holidays.

According to an official, there was no plan to extend the winter vacation in the hope that the weather conditions would improve in a day or two, and added that the decline of a couple of degrees Celsius should not be taken as an excuse for restraining children from going to school.

But the parents hoped that education department authorities would pay heed to the problems facing small children in going to school in the morning when cold winds may cause health problems for them.

“The authorities should extend the winter vacation at least for a week as I have seen only one or two kids in each school where I teach. Otherwise, parents would be compelled to keep children at home till the weather improves,” said a woman schoolteacher.—PPI