Schools summer vacation from 17th

LAHORE : Punjab School Education Minister Rana Mashhood has announced public and private schools summer vacation across Punjab from May 17.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, the minister said the schools would reopen on August 10 and a new government would be in place after the general elections 2018. He said the decision for early summer vacation was made in view of increasing temperatures and Ramazan.

The minister said no private school was allowed to collect fee for summer vacation collectively and added private schools could collect fee on monthly basis only. He said the government had lifted a ban on transfer/posting of educators and added in order to provide relief to educators the process would be completed by May 31.

It is pertinent to mention here that some private schools don’t follow the Punjab government’s academic calendar. These schools have scheduled their annual examination for different classes starting from May 14 and May 16, respectively. Talking to The News, Secretary Schools, Punjab, Dr Allah Bakhsh said such schools were allowed to hold their annual examinations during summer vacation and added similarly a notification would not be applicable for foreign examinations taking place in the country in the meanwhile.

However, the Higher Education Department (HED) Punjab is silent on summer vacation schedule which has caused concern among students and teachers. Sources said the HED Punjab was likely to issue its notification for colleges and universities in a couple of days.