FDE plans to extend summer vacations

Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) is planning to extend summer vacations for the students of Islamabad Model and Federal Government colleges till September 13. An official of FDE told APP that Ministry of Education has given the directives to FDE for extending the summer vacations while parents fear that children will not be able to cover the syllabus.
A formal notification will be issued in the coming week. The official said that vacations will be extended due to the Holy month of Ramazan and Eid. The teachers who rushed to their hometowns during vacations also demanded extension in vacations as most of them have to go again to their hometowns for celebrating Eid if vacations ends during Ramazan.
Earlier, FDE announced summer vacations from June 18 till August 23. While the vacations for the students from class one to class five were started from June 7 due to scorching summer heat.
Usually, the students and teachers move to their hometowns in vacations and return late even if schools are opened. It is good as they could spend Eid with their relatives, said a teacher. Most of the principals and teachers said that they were not informed about the extension in vacations and the matter is between officials of FDE and education ministry. Principal of a college said the two holidays have already affected the study routine of the students and hardly syllabus will be covered. "It seems that the directorate don't want the children to study".
At least the authorities must take principals and teachers into confidence in such decision, she said. The vacations will make no difference for anyone but ultimately the students will suffer, she said.
The vacations are meant for protecting the students from scorching blaze of summer and the vacations must not be extended when the monsoon rains have brought the temperature down, said a teacher. On the other hand, students are excited on the decision as they will get extra time for completing their homework and focus more on the preparation of Eid celebrations.
Oblivious of the fact that they will have short time to cover syllabus, a IV class student, Hassan Shahid said that "I will get more days to play and complete my home work easily as it seemed difficult to complete math exercise on time."