RAWALPINDI: As temperature dropped significantly in many parts of Punjab, the provincial government extended the winter vacations of public and private educational institutions by one week.

Earlier, the schools were to reopen on January 12.

According to a notification, in the wake of precarious cold waves and bad weather condition as well as to ensure safety and well-being of students, the government extended the winter vacations of all public and private schools across the province from January 12 to January 18. All schools shall re-open on January 19.

The education department asked the chief executive officers, district education authorities to ensure strict compliance.

It may be mentioned that many private schools in the garrison city remained open from January 5 and the District Education Authority launched action against them.

On the other hand, the All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association criticised the government decision to extend the vacations.

It said educational activities should start from January 12, imposing heavy fines on educational institutions during winter vacations in Attock district and issuing show-cause notices is condemnable, said association’s central senior vice president Mohammad Furqan Chaudhry, north Punjab president Abrar Ahmed Khan, divisional general secretary Aamir Anwar and district president Abrar Ahmed Advocate.

In a joint statement on Saturday, they said the extension of holidays in the final phase of the academic session will adversely affect the education of children, especially the preparations for class 9th and 10th exams.

They said education minister Rana Sikandar Hayat’s social media soliciting public opinion regarding further extension of holidays was against his vision and the steps taken to promote education. They condemned the heavy fines imposed on private educational institutions in the winter and demanded the withdrawal of the decision.

Meanwhile, District Education Authority Chief Executive Officer Tariq Mehmood said the authority would not let open private schools as per directives of the government.

He said as the temperature dropped in Rawalpindi and Murree, parents demanded to extend the winter vacation for the safety and health of their children. He said monitoring teams had been formed and fines would be imposed on violators of government directives.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2026