LAHORE, May 28: The summer vacation are approaching fast, but this may not be true for many children studying in private schools because most schools have informed parents that they will hold summer camps soon after the first term examinations currently in session.

The Punjab government is helpless as it has no mechanism to make private schools to follow government instructions. Private school chains are even far from government’s reach.

Besides many schools, Lahore Grammar School’s Ghalib Market branch has sent notices to parents to send their wards to school compulsorily and pay Rs3,500 for the 20-day summer camp beginning soon after the ongoing examinations. The parents as well as students have protested against the new directive.

Punjab school education department secretary Aslam Kamboh said summer camps should be organised for terminal examination class students only. “It will be wrong if private schools will organise summer camps for students of Class-I to IV, VI and VII,” he said.

Mr Kamboh said school chains including LGS did not follow government directions and added that still most private schools responded to government directions. He said it would be wrong if schools do not pay teachers for summer camp classes.

Mr Kamboh said his department had moved a summary to the chief minister with regard to summer vacation and policy on summer camps. However, he said, the department would mention in its order that public schools would hold summer camps for terminal examination classes (Class-V, VIII, IX and X) students. He said public schools would not charge any fee and there would be no summer camps in Ramazan.

Private schools’ managements say that it is the age of competition and there is a need to teach complete courses to students.

“It becomes even more important for private schools to hold summer camps to complete courses because they offer two weekly holidays,” a private school management official said. The official said a summer camp was not full school, but classes for selected subjects for a couple of hours every day.

A senior school education department official, who wished not to be named, said this powerful chief minister (Shahbaz Sharif) had failed to bring legislation to regulate private schools. “Private schools must be regulated to save parents from school managements’ undue demands and increase in fees without any rationale,” he added.

It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s special committee proposed in 2009 setting up an autonomous body -- Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority -- to regulate private schools.

The 20-member committee led by Punjab Education Foundation chairman Raja Muhammad Anwar held extensive debates with stakeholders, including private schools organisations as well as school chains’ representatives. The committee came up with the proposal of an autonomous body to be formed under the act of Parliament, having more than 50 per cent of private sector representation.

It was proposed that the autonomous body would deal with each and every affair of private schools -- from registration, affiliation, categorisation, examination and fee structure to listening to complaints of parents and students and their redressal.

Since July 2009, the Punjab government has just failed to take up this issue and meet parents’ long standing demands.