KARACHI, Sept 1: All government and private schools in the city will remain closed on Friday on account of Shab-i-Mairaj, said the EDO Schools on Thursday evening.

A sense of confusion about the functioning of educational institutions on Friday was present till evening, while students and parents kept calling newspaper offices to know whether Friday would be a holiday or not.

When reached by Dawn, the Executive District Officer, Sikandar Ali Lakhair, said he had ordered the closure of government and private schools in the city on Friday on account of Shab-i-Mairaj.

When told that the list of holidays finalized by the steering committee of the Sindh education department did not include Shab-i-Mairaj, he said there had been precedence of observing Shab-i-Mairaj as holiday in the past. Meanwhile, sources in the college education side said that since there was no directive from the Sindh or city governments on the subject, Friday would be observed as working day.

In the meantime, the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology and Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology have also announced to observe a holiday on Friday on account of Shab-i-Mairaj.

While some private schools had announced about the holiday earlier in the day.