Knowledge is wealth, for private schools

Public schools across Punjab, except hilly areas including Murree, are closed these days owing to annual summer vacation, usually observed from June 1 till mid-August. Reportedly, the same is the case with public schools in Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), with varied schedules.
However, like every year most private schools, particularly in Punjab, seem totally oblivious to the practice and are involved in the “supreme” service of education, certainly not business, by not observing the summer break. One wonders why the government is shy of learning from the private sector that the “mission” of imparting knowledge should continue without any break, no matter the sun touches the earth!
A mere online search reveals that summer vacation is a global phenomenon and certainly there would be some logical reasons behind it, depending upon location, traditions and overall culture of a particular country. But the case of Pakistan is certainly different where the private sector involved in education believes knowledge is wealth, quite literally, and hence forces little kids to come out and join schools and summer camps in extreme hot weather. The summer camps phenomenon has gained momentum during the last couple of years, obviously because of government’s laxness.
The Punjab government’s notification of holidays’ schedule on March 12, 2015, particularly mentions that “All Educational Institutions (Government as well as private) will strictly observe the schedule without any deviation there from.”
It is generally observed that most private schools don’t follow the Punjab government’s “order” for the first couple of weeks on the pretext of in-house exams and tests and later in the name of “summer camps” again with the sole “sublime” purpose of imparting knowledge and not to mint money!
It also worries every sane person as to why the Punjab government takes pain, on paper though, by “forcing” private schools to follow its schedule when it cannot enforce it. While all this shows the weakness of the School Education Department Punjab, it also exposes the “daring” attitude of private schools challenging the writ of the government by deviating from its schedule.
Academic circles are of the view that had the Punjab government really taken strict action against the private sector, without sparing the big names in education, the situation would have been different today. It is, therefore, the Punjab government has to face frequent criticism vis-à-vis delay in introduction of the much-needed regulatory body for private schools of the province.
Another related aspect with regard to the ongoing debate is the collection of three months advance lump sum fee of the summer break by private schools. This is quite unfortunate that despite orders of the Lahore High Court, the Schools Department is facing a tough time in making private schools to follow its own orders of collecting the fee only on a monthly basis. Many big names in education are still busy in collecting lump sum fee in advance making mockery of all efforts to discourage and stop the practice.
—-lachvee@gmail.com