LAHORE: Punjab’s Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat has confirmed that the Friday holiday for schools will be officially discontinued, and educational institutions will soon return to their regular schedules.
Responding to the allegations pertaining to making the Friday holiday a permanent feature for educational institutions, Hayat clarified that the holiday would be phased out soon and would not be introduced permanently. The minister reiterated that schools would revert to their previous schedules in the coming weeks.
“Friday holiday is not being permanently introduced,” Hayat mentioned. “We will return to our normal schedule of working within the coming weeks.” In this regard, it was noted that the Punjab provincial government has been in close contact with the central government on the matter at hand.
Furthermore, the minister has responded to the speculation about the introduction of holiday schedule during summer break, saying that the government would finalize the matter post May 15. It was mentioned by Hayat that this issue has to be approved by Punjab’s Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif.
It is worthy to mention here that the Friday holidays were introduced because of the worldwide energy crisis, coupled with increased fuel costs. In light of this, it was decided that students should join online lessons every Friday instead of attending schools.
In the light of the new changes, officials say that the decision to revert to the old schedule was taken after evaluating the current situation.
KP schools in crisis: Textbook shortage threatens education for thousands
Meanwhile, as the new academic year in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa approaches, the distribution of textbooks to government schools is expected to begin next month. However, with a limited number of books available, it remains unclear whether students will receive free textbooks again this year.
According to MashriqTv report, it has been learnt that some government schools in the province have already started collecting textbooks used by matriculation students; however, with these books having been used for two consecutive years, they are not in good condition and may not be useful for the upcoming academic year.
Last year, the provincial government had ordered an inquiry into the case of excessive printing of government textbooks and the disappearance of books from multiple places. The government had also announced the recovery of money from the respective teachers yet, no progress has been made since then.
The Education Department has kept mum on this controversial issue, leaving behind the process of book recovery to teachers. If the trend continues, the shortage of textbooks this year might adversely affect students’ learning.
