248 days academic session in Hazara institutions sought

MANSEHRA: Private educational institutions in Hazara have demanded the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to ensure that an academic session completes in 248 days of a year.

“We condemn raids on educational institutions by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Private Schools Regulatory Authority and want it to allow us to continue winter camps to complete the leftover curricula,” Umar Khan Swati, the spokesman for Education Forum, told reporters after the meeting of various private schools associations here on Sunday.

He said a joint charter of demands agreed upon by three private schools associations, including Education Forum, Peima and Pen, moved a joint charter of demands to the regulatory authority, seeking an immediate halt of raids on educational institutions still opened and holding winter camps to prepare students for upcoming educational board’s examinations.

“We have demanded the government to allow private educational institutions to exercise all 248 days in an educational session or curtail its curricula lessons in an academic year,” said Swati.

Another office-bearer of Education Forum, Fayyaz, said the government didn’t allow students of private educational institutions to take part in various scholarships, which he said was discrimination against them. “The education for every child is a prime responsibility of government but students receiving education there (private educational institutions) are being deprived of this basic right,” said Fayyaz. He said private educational institutions’ associations had also demanded the same.