ISLAMABAD – Pakistani students will have only a month-long summer vacation this year starting from July 2 to July 31, 2021, according to the educational calendar the federal government has announced on Saturday.
According to a notification issued by the Federal Directorate of Education, the schedule for this year’s classes is:
May 18-31: Centralised (district boards) examinations for grade 5 and 8
June 1 to 15: In-house examinations for grades 1-7 (except grade 5)
June 30: Results for centralised exams
July 1: Results for in-house exams
August 2: New academic year begins
The All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF) rejected the new session’s start date of August 1. APPSF Chairman Kashif Mirza said private schools will start their new sessions from April. He said, “Due to the coronavirus lockdown, over five million students across the country have suffered educational losses.”
He added that the uniform syllabus that the government wants to enforce country-wide has still not reached the market.
Educational institutions in Pakistan were closed in late February last year after Covid-19 cases began to rise. They were reopened in phases with classes from 9th to universities reopening on September 15, middle schools (grades 6-8) from September 23, and classes under 6 opening on September 30.
However, that reopening was short-lived as the educational institutions were closed again on November 26 with the emergence of the second wave of Covid-19.
Classes in 2020 were all taken online and winter vacations was a short affair from December 25 to January 10.
The government allowed the reopening of schools and colleges from grade 9 and above on January 18.
Private schools reopened from late January whereas government schools will reopen from February 1.
