As Lahore and other parts of the country are in the grip of the extreme heat these days and loadshedding is also showing no signs of abating, children who have just resumed their classes after weeks-long break on account of the coronavirus are finding it extremely hard to get on with their studies, prompting them as well as their parents to appeal to the government for immediate start to the summer vacations, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Thursday.

The provincial capital is sizzling at 44 degrees Celsius, and power outages have made the matters worse. So much so that now children are falling sick.

In view of the situation, both students and their parents have called upon the authorities to immediately announce summer vacations.

Asif Gauhur, an educationist, is of the view that exams of children from class 1 to class 8 should start immediately so that they reach their schools as early as at 7 AM and leave after finishing their papers at 9 AM.

There are reports of more and more children losing consciousness at schools due to long study hours.

And to make matters worse, most of the schools are without proper facilities, making it quite difficult for the students to continue their studies.

Classrooms sealed

The students at Government Girls High School at Hussain Khanwala Chak No 6 in Chunian were forced to take their lessons outside in the sweltering heat as the Education Department had sealed the classrooms for being in a dilapidated condition.

The teachers have also joined their students under the open sky without any fans.

The girl students said that the tree shadows were not enough to save them from the intense heat as they continued to walk through the whole school for shelter during the school timings.

On Wednesday, several children had fainted at a school in the Malpur area of Islamabad due to power outages in intense heat.

The Government Federal School administration had to pour water on their heads after blood started to ooze out of their noses.

Despite the fact that a complaint was made to WAPDA, but the power supply to the school could not be restored till last reports came in.

Similarly, a child had fainted at a school in Sheikh Munaf Kali Sherpao area of Charsadda on Tuesday as intense heat continues to grip several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

PML-N demands summer vacations at schools

Holding Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government responsible for ‘worst’ loadshedding in the country during hottest summers, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb on Thursday demanded closure of schools so that children could be protected from intense heat, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

In a statement, she said children were fainting at schools because of excessive heat and also loadshedding, which made closure of schools all the more necessary.

Marriyum said the reason for prolonged power outages in the country was ‘mismanagement’ and corruption on the part of the present government. “Children must not bear the brunt of this government’s ‘incompetence’,” she demanded.

Spokesperson for the PML-N claimed that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had produced more electricity than demand.

She alleged that ‘mafias’, led by Prime Minister Imran Khan, first allowed the prices of essential items to go up and then these items disappeared from the shelves. “For instance the price of sugar went up from Rs52 per kilo to Rs120 per kilo, but still the commodity is not available at stores,” she said, and added, “Similarly, the price of flour went up from Rs35 to Rs90, but still it is out of people’s reach. Today, the situation is that we have most expensive electricity and also ‘worst’ electricity.”

Marriyum taunted that while children of poor people were braving heat as well as loadshedding, PM Imran and members of his cabinet were sitting in their air-conditioned rooms.

She alleged that the PTI government during the last three years had robbed people of sugar, flour and even medicines due to their extraordinarily high prices.

PML-N spokesperson said it was strange that when the present government had admitted 23, 116 megawatts of electricity was in the system, why on earth it was finding it hard to meet the demand of 22, 600 megawatts. “The ‘corrupt’ and ‘incompetent’ government has increased the price of electricity from Rs11 per unit to Rs19 per unit,” she lamented.

Reporters Junaid Riaz, Ch Akhtar Zia and Umar Aslam