KARACHI: With various private school associations and the Sindh education department engaged in a tug of war over the extension of vacation due to rains, all schools that come under the Catholic Board of Education announced on Saturday that as per the directives of the provincial government they would reopen on Aug 12.

Meanwhile, Sindh’s Director General for Private Educational Institutions Mansoob Hussain Siddiqui warned the managements of private schools that the registration of the school could be cancelled in case of non-compliance of government orders.

The DG said that under the law all schools were bound to follow government orders and violation of the law could result in cancellation of registration of schools while their owners could be arrested.

Earlier, the Sindh education department had announced a week’s extension in the summer vacation. As per the notification the vacation was extended till Aug 11 instead of reopening on Monday, Aug 3.

But many private schools associations, including Private School Manag­ement Associ­ation, All Private Schools Manag­ement Association and Peak Private Scho­ols Management Association, rejected the order while pointing out that the city was not affected by rain. They said there was no need to disturb the academic schedule of students this way. They also said that they wanted to reopen in time to start preparations for Independence Day as well as engage their pupils in relief work for the flood-hit areas. Even after being warned of dire consequences they remained adamant to reopen on Monday, which they also ann­o­unced at another joint press conference held at the Karachi Press Club on Saturday.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play