RAWALPINDI: The District Education Authority has decided to take action against private schools not observing summer vacations as per Punjab government’s directives.

The provincial government announced the summer vacations from May 17 to August 10. All government schools are now closed but private schools still remain open and plan to close for summer vacations from mid-Ramazan.

The education department has issued show-cause notices to more than five schools.

But after the private schools did not take the matter seriously, the authority directed education inspectors to carry out a survey so that action could be started against institutions which were still open.

Executive District Officer Education Qazi Tariq told Dawn that the education department would start taking action against private schools which were still open from Monday.

He said all the government schools had closed and the private educational institutions were also to observe the summer vacations as announced by the government. He said this year due to Ramazan the summer vacations had been announced a week earlier.

“Usually, new classes start in April but this year the new academic session started in March so the studies of students would not be affected due to the early summer vacations.”

He said show-cause notices had been issued to five schools after receiving complaints from the parents.

He said the government had also imposed a ban on summer camps. “After Ramazan, we would start checking whether the directives were implemented or not,” the official added.

We are negotiating with the government over the summer vacations. We will close schools after giving homework to the children in a week or two,” said All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association President Abrar Ahmed Khan.

He said the decision to start the summer vacations in May was unrealistic as the private schools were not ready to close a month early.

“In government schools, teachers have to get training for election duties and for this purpose the government announced the summer vacations early. But we have to give more time to children to prepare them for their annual exams,” he said.

He said the government was in a hurry to declare summer vacations and took the decision without taking all stakeholders on board. “It is the responsibility of the government to also consult private schools and give them time to make arrangements,” he said.

On the other hand, parents are facing hardship as it is difficult for children to go to schools in Ramazan.

“Private schools remain opened just to collect three months’ fee and created problems for children and parents,” said Arslan Nasir, a resident Satellite Town.

“There is no check on private schools and they increase fees and collect fee during the summer vacations. The government seems to be helpless to regulate the education sector,” he said.

Mohammad Tahir, a resident of Bostan Khan Road, said in most of the private schools there was no cooling arrangement in classes even though they charge heavy fee.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2018