RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government on Monday announced closer of private and public schools from May 25 to May 31 due to heatwave in the province and the District Education Authority Rawalpindi formed monitoring team to implement the orders in all the private schools as well.

Earlier, the Punjab government had issued notification to start summer vacations from June 1 to August 15. However, due to current heatwave, it issued another notification that all the public and private schools will be closed from May 25 to May 31. However, the order does no applyon the private schools conducting examinations on their premises but they were asked to take necessary precautions to ensure safety of students.

After getting orders from the provincial government, District Education Authority asked all the private and public schools to implement the orders in letter and spirit.

“We have conveyed the government directives to all the private schools in the district and formed three teams to monitor their implementation ,” said Yasin Khan Baloch, Chief Executive Officer of District Education Authority while talking to Dawn.

He said that though all the schools have implemented the school timings from 7 am to 11:30 am, there is chances of health issues for the children so the government has decided to close schools from May 25 to May 31 and after that, the summer vacations will be started.

Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has issued a heatwave alert in Punjab including Rawalpindi, under which the temperature is likely to go up to 45 degrees. After the alert was issued by the PDMA, the district administration of Rawalpindi has also issued a heatwave advisory.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2024