PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Private Schools Regularity Authority has decided to extend semester system to private schools to bring them at par with government educational institutions in terms of academic calendar.

The elementary and secondary education department replaced the British-era annual examination system last year in government schools for students up to 8th grade with the two-semester system.

The new system was introduced to lessen burden on students and teachers and save time of students. The authorities concerned believed that months-long vacations used to waste time of students in the annual examination system.

“However, private schools have not implemented the semester system. They are following the annual system due to which a technical glitch has surfaced in switching over of the students of private and government schools to each other owing to disparity in their academic calendar,” an official of the education department told Dawn.

Official says the policy meant to end disparity in academic calendars of private and public educational institutions

He said that the students of private schools used to shift to government educational institutions at the conclusion of annual examinations when both schools were following the annual system. In the current academic year, the students of private schools were unable to take admission in government schools due to disparity in the academic year, he said.

It is pertinent to mention here that under the annual examination system, private schools have conducted final examinations in March and started new academic year in April while the final semester examination in government schools will start in a couple of days and will complete by the end of May.

“The decision to extend the semester system to private schools has been taken in the recently-held meeting of PSRA’s board,” said the official.

He said that the policy was formulated keeping in view climatic diversity across different regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with the objectives of ensuring optimal academic delivery and safeguarding students’ well-being.

Under the new system, academic year has been structured through a staggered schedule, separately designed for winter and summer zones.

In the schools of summer zone, academic year commences on Sept 1, with the fall semester running from Sept 1 to Dec 31. The spring semester begins on January 16 and ends on May 31.

In the winter zone, academic year starts on March 1, the spring semester lasts from March 1 to June 30 and the fall semester from August 1 to Dec 22.

The managing director of PSRA, Javed Iqbal, told Dawn that the decision to extend the semester system to private schools was taken unanimously in the board’s meeting of the authority and all the members of representing private schools agreed with it.

He said that the timing of implementing the policy in private schools would be decided by a committee formed by elementary and secondary education department.

He said that PSRA would take action under law if private schools resisted the decision.

Education Secretary Mohammad Khalid, who is also chairperson of PSRA, told Dawn that the semester system was already implemented in government schools with positive response from students and teachers. “It will also benefit the students of private schools,” he added.

He said that the new examination system would lessen academic burden on students and teachers of private schools and would also punt an end to student learning losses due to months-long vacation.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2026