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Sindh Restores Six-Day School Week as Classes Resume

Provincial officials say the change aims to recover lost teaching time by enforcing new schedules with detailed college shift timings.

Overview

  • The Sindh Education and College Education departments issued formal notifications that take effect August 1 requiring all public and private schools and colleges to operate Monday through Saturday until further notice.
  • The College Education Department set specific shift hours for colleges: morning shift 8:30am–1:30pm Monday–Thursday and Saturday and 8:30am–11:30am on Friday, and evening shift 3pm–7pm Monday–Thursday and Saturday and 2:30pm–5pm on Friday.
  • Schools and colleges reopened under the new schedule with lower-than-normal student attendance on the first day, and some private schools chose to delay regular classes until August 3.
  • The province declared a one-day holiday for Chehlum on August 4 and announced security measures that include an extended enforcement of Section 144, a ban on pillion riding, and deployment of Army and Rangers for the observance.
  • Officials also approved an NGO-led eye-screening program to test students and provide glasses in several districts, and the August order formally supersedes a March 31 notification that had made Saturdays a holiday as part of earlier austerity measures because authorities said weekend closures were harming curriculum completion.