KARACHI: Just like it happens every year, there was again a big confusion over the reopening of schools on Monday, when the vacation were supposed to conclude as per the government schedule.

Government schools were open on the first day of school as were most convent schools while many private schools remained closed with the plan to open on Aug 1.

Classes remained disturbed as the attendance in the schools which were open was low. In government schools, most teachers, not finding anything important to do, chatted among themselves while the students were encouraged to go and play outside or they merged classes to have more students in any class where studies were under way.

“I wasn’t prepared to send my child to school on Monday as I completely forgot about the new schedule. Then the van appeared at our gate and I realised that his school must be open. But it was too late to get him ready, so he had to miss the first day of school,” said one mother.

The earlier schedule to keep schools closed for summer from June 1 to July 31 as decided by the Steering Committee, which had met on Jan 7, was changed by Sindh’s education secretary Dr Fazlullah Pechuho in May when he announced the summer vacation to commence as early as May 19 due to the hot weather. Since they were closing early, they were also expected to reopen early, by July 25. Still, many private schools refused to comply as was noticed on Monday.

The Private Schools Management Association had posted on their Facebook page that their schools would reopen on Aug 1.

Education Secretary Dr Fazlullah Pechuho is currently on leave. So is Mumtaz Shah, the acting secretary for education. Director of Directorate of Private Institutions, Sindh, Dr Mansoob Siddiqui was also unavailable for comment regarding the matter.

Meanwhile, chairman of the All Private Schools Management Khalid Shah told Dawn that their schools reopened on Monday according to the government’s directive. “We had also closed our schools early for summer vacation unlike other private schools, which had opposed the government order even then. It is better that all schools keep their schedules uniform. Besides, the directive was issued for a valid reason. If something had happened to any of the pupils due to the heatwave in May, it would have been a big problem,” he said.

“Still, some private schools, which had opposed the decision then are again violating the order when it is time to reopen the schools. Defying government orders by a few private schools has become more of a trend these days. I believe they do this just to bag some publicity for themselves.”

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2016