KARACHI: The steering committee of the Sindh education department has suggested 15 days of training for school and college teachers during the June and July summer vacations and the next educational session to commence from April.

Caretaker Education Minister Rana Hussain chaired the meeting, which was attended by School Education Secretary Shireen Mustafa Narejo, College Education Secretary Safad Anis Sheikh and other members of the committee.

The meeting discussed that due to the late start of the educational session every year, the results of intermediate exams were also announced late because of which the students had to face challenges in getting admissions to universities. Therefore, it was suggested that the session for the year of 2024-25 should begin in April.

It was also said that school and college teachers should undergo training to keep themselves abreast with new teaching methods and techniques. So it was suggested that there should be a provision of at least 15 days of training during the summer vacations in June and July to keep schools open for the teachers to enrol themselves in such training courses.

Students of classes 1 to 3 to be promoted without exams; steering committee decides winter vacation to begin from Dec 20

It was also suggested that the summer vacations for the next year should start from June 1 and conclude on July 31 while winter vacations this year should begin from December 20 to end on Dec 31.

The regular local holidays in the coming year would include Kashmir Day, Shab-i-Mairaj, Pakistan Day, Youm-i-Ali, Shab-i-Qadr, Labour Day, Eidul Fitr, Eidul Azha, Ashura, Independence Day, Chehlum, Eid-i-Milad-un-Nabi, Youm-i-Shah Abdul Latif and Quaid-i-Azam Day. Holidays at the district level should also be notified in advance by the local administrations.

It was also discussed whether it would be better to have holidays in the name of people from history or if it would be better to call children to school on the days and teach them about such worthy individuals who had left their mark in history.

Suggestions regarding examinations included that children of classes one to three should be easily promoted based on their classwork while students of classes four to class eight should undergo examinations. And these examinations should be held from March 20 to March 31.

Sports and other extracurricular activities should also not be ignored and there should be a proper timetable for sports and co-curricular activities in all schools throughout the year, the education minister said.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2023