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Friday March 29, 2024

Vacation

IslamabadPerturbed with the never ending winter vacation Albab Zaman, a student of local private school, claims that “these unplanned holidays are psychologically making him more terrorized”. Zaman an undergraduate student is one of those thousands of students currently ‘detained’ at home because of fear of possible terrorist attacks on the

By our correspondents
January 07, 2015
Islamabad
Perturbed with the never ending winter vacation Albab Zaman, a student of local private school, claims that “these unplanned holidays are psychologically making him more terrorized”.
Zaman an undergraduate student is one of those thousands of students currently ‘detained’ at home because of fear of possible terrorist attacks on the education institutions.
Pakistan has endured the loss of 141 children during an attack on a school in Peshawar on December 16, 2014. The attack not only triggered a wave of terror, but also instigated ‘fear of unknown’ among citizens.
On seeing the situation, the government decided to close the educational institutions till the time threats can be handled. On realizing the intensity of threats, the government has further extended the holidays till new orders.
Before the said attack, Zaman was thinking the schools as the safest place for students. He termed it unfortunate that instead of upgrading the security system, the government had extended the holidays, which according to him was not the solution.
Ijlal Hamdani, a student of a local college says, “Closing the schools for an indefinite period is not a good decision; the security matters should have been sorted out in the shortest possible time.”
The students think that keeping institutions closed for too long would not help in their studies rather this will cause turbulence among them. At the same time students want an adequate environment to concentrate on their studies. For that proper security measures can be adopted to avoid any future consciences. Students also want to get proper training to handle such situations, God forbid if happens in future.
Many students are worried about the examination which is going to commence in 2-3 months while they have enough syllabus to cover yet.
On one side, students are determined to go to their respective educational institutions but on the other side some parents are more concerned about the safety and security of their children. It is more comfortable for the parents to keep their children in homes rather than putting their lives on stake. The parents rather endorse the extension in the ‘winter vacation’.
Mother of a student Erum Manzoor says, “The little break will not hurt their child’s studies and they are helping her in studies at home.”
But, there are parents who want schools to get resumed early because the loss of time is unrecoverable.
Father of a 1st year student thinks that these unnecessary holidays are damaging not only study temperament of his son, but also infusing sense of fear. He requested the government and law enforcement agencies to take appropriate security measures to minimize the terror phobia.
According to teachers, extending the holidays is causing immense loss to the students regarding their studies and preparation for upcoming term/annual exams as most schools/institutions are heading towards the end of their session and this time for studies are more important.
The owners of private schools seem double-minded, as on the one hand they seem reluctant to close schools for indefinite period, on the other hand they are complying with the government decision for holidays’ extension. Some insiders said the administrations of different schools feel that in case they defy the government instruction they would be held accountable for any untoward incident.
Dr Afzal Babar, President Private Schools Network (PSN) of Islamabad, talking to this writer said there was no alternative with them but to close the schools. “Who will take responsibility in case of any security lapse”, he said.
“Why should not we follow the government’s guidelines and the schools can be closed for the security of students’ life”, he added.
Educationalists believe that extending the holidays in schools is not the solution. Instead every school must have crisis team that reviews their plans of action on regular basis. They must have lockdown drills that train everyone how to react under such circumstances. Moreover every institution needs counselors, psychologists and unarmed law enforcement officers to work alongside to provide sense of security, they suggest.