KARACHI: Sindh Education Department has decided to extend the ongoing summer vacations in the province’s schools till July 31 in the wake of the upcoming general elections. Sindh Education Secretary, Alia Shahid, after finalising the summary for extension in summer vacations, will send it to caretaker Chief Minister, Fazlur Rehman for approval. Schools in Sindh were to reopen on July 16 after summer vacations. However, the Sindh Education Department decided to extend the holidays by another twelve days. According to Education Secretary Alia Shahid, the extension was proposed due to ongoing election activities and public school teachers’ engagement in upcoming election. Officials in Sindh education department said that a large number of government and private schools with big buildings had been secured for setting up polling stations. According to the details, there was not enough time between July 16 and July 24 to complete arrangements for setting up polling booths, security system and civic facilities arrangements in the schools’ premises. The officials of different government departments including the education department also had to discharge their election duties and attend election training sessions during this time period. According to education department officials, reopening of schools on July 16 for a week would have been implausible. “In this case it is likely that schools will be opened on Wednesday, August 1, 2018 for resuming academic sessions,” officials from the education department added. The private school management bodies in Karachi and Sindh have welcomed the extension in summer holidays. According to school management bodies, it would have been inconvenient to open the school for a week and then close them again for elections. They added that parents were unwilling to send their children to schools during election activity atmosphere. Sindh Director Schools Mansoob Siddiqi Sindh was of the opinion that whenever general elections are held, civic atmosphere always keeps parents wondering whether to send their children to schools or not. Akmal Shariff an educationist and administrator of a private school system said that it would be better to reopen schools on August 1, 2018. He added that it was impossible to reshape classrooms and other facilities within such a short period of time. The Sindh Government had announced summer holidays on May 14 to July 16. The early announcement was owed to the heat wave and holy month of Ramadan to give relief to students. Published in Daily Times, July 6th 2018.