KARACHI, March 24: Senior office bearers of the All Private Schools Management Association Sindh (Apsmas) said on Friday that one after another “the ill-advised decisions of the Sindh education department had messed up the school education in the province”.

They hailed the recent decision of the Sindh Cabinet to halt introduction of composite examinations for class IX and X students of the province, terming it a great relief.

They also urged the Sindh governor and chief minister to look into the issues of changes in summer vacation and commencement of new academic session, and the registration and monitoring of private schools by the provincial government.

At a press conference, the Apsmas Chairman, Syed Khalid Shah, who is also chairman of the National Education Council, said the entire academic community was under severe pressure and confused after a decision of the government to abandon the by-parts exams at the SSC level.

While, he added that the bureaucracy remained unmoved and played as an ardent advocate of the proposed composite examination, under the leadership of the Sindh education minister.

Mr Shah, flanked by Begum Shaheen Qasimuddin, Syed Ibn-i-Hassan Shah and Asma Khan, said the Sindh education department should act as education-friendly and avoid policies, which caused unrest among teachers, students and school managers.

He hoped the Sindh education department would soon issue a notification pertaining to the reversal of the old system of examinations.

He hoped a time not before June 15 would be fixed for the SSC (Part-I) examinations.

Noting that the Sindh education department mostly ignored the opinions and views of stake holders while taking major decisions directly linked to schools and students, the Apsmas leader said such attitudes should be done away with in future.

Despite repeated requests and memorandums from different quarters, the education department appeared inflexible on the issue of summer vacation, he said.

They (education department) have decided to extend the vacation up to August 16 from this year, which was sure to further reduce teaching days in schools, he added, demanding of the government to observe the previous style of summer holidays.

He said that if the high-ups did not intervene and the education department was allowed to stick to its decision about commencement of new academic session on August 16, it will be another blow to school education.

According to Mr Shah, the plea for holding school exams in March and starting the new session from April 1 was badly ignored for “fulfilment of certain desires of the people at the helm of affairs in the government and education department”.

Under the newly enforced decision, now the school students would remain without school, teaching or textbooks for at least two and a half months after announcement of their results and without promotion to higher classes, which was an unbearable loss.

Coming on to the affairs of private schools, he said the decision of the Sindh government to establish a private school directorate under its control was against all norms and spirit of the devolution meant at the district-level.

Under the new system, all secondary schools, including those located outside Karachi are now required to apply for registration or renewal of registration at the Karachi office of the Sindh education department, thus making different trips to the central office a cumbersome drill, which needs to be reviewed, Mr Shah added.