ISLAMABAD (PEN) : Due to the intense heat, schools across Sindh will have their summer holidays extended by an additional two weeks, affecting over 100,000 schools. Atif Vighio from the Sindh education department announced this decision, emphasizing it is meant to safeguard the children’s well-being amid soaring temperatures.
Pakistan is increasingly facing extreme weather conditions, a consequence of climate change. This includes not only more frequent and intense heatwaves but also prolonged and heavier monsoon rains.
“We decided to keep the schools closed for another 14 days to ensure the kids’ safety and comfort,” Vighio told .
The country is also grappling with frequent power outages, or load-shedding, due to an ongoing electricity crisis. In rural Sindh, these outages can last over 12 hours a day, leaving schools without fans and exacerbating the heat problem.
A public school teacher, shared her concern: “As a teacher, I worry about how I’ll finish the curriculum, but as a mother, I’m even more worried about sending kids to school in this extreme heat. It’s not just the heat that’s a problem; the load-shedding makes it worse.”
Currently, more than 26 million children in Pakistan are out of school due to poverty, adding another layer of challenge to the education sector.
This summer has been particularly harsh, with temperatures in rural Sindh soaring above 50°C (122°F) during heatwaves in May and June. To protect children from the intense heat, authorities in Punjab, the most populous province, began summer vacations a week earlier than usual.
