School hours reduced in Sindh due to extreme heat

It has been decided to restore the normal timings of schools to provide relief to students due to the intense heat in Sindh. Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah has announced that the one-hour increase in school timings that was earlier done will be abolished.

Addressing a ceremony in Karachi, the Education Minister said that during the Corona epidemic, floods and other extraordinary circumstances, the timings of educational institutions were increased by one hour and a weekend holiday was kept, but now due to these circumstances, there is no need to keep the extra time.

Syed Sardar Ali Shah said that the large number of out-of-school children is still a major problem for the province. According to him, the government also needs to do more work regarding a uniform education policy.

Mentioning other problems facing the education system, he said that the walls of about 20,000 schools in Sindh were affected during the floods. He said that Pakistan is among those countries where the rate of expenditure on education is low, so more resources should be provided for the education sector at the federal level as well.

The Education Minister demanded that the federal government allocate adequate funds for educational centers through PSDP. According to him, millions of children are being educated through community-based centers, but due to inflation, these centers are also facing increasing expenses.

On the other hand, important changes are also being prepared in the administrative affairs of government universities in Punjab. The draft of the Public Sector Universities (Second Amendment) Act 2026 has been received by the Punjab Assembly Standing Committee on Higher Education.

Under the proposed law, it is proposed to give the Punjab government the authority to appoint the registrar, treasurer and controller of examinations of government universities. In the current system, appointments to these important posts are made by the university syndicate.

According to the new procedure, the government will make appointments for these posts based on the recommendations of the search committee. The procedure for forming the search committee has also been included in the draft.

In case of vacancy of any post, interim appointment will be allowed, however, the officer appointed temporarily can be given responsibility for a maximum of six months.

The proposed law also clarifies the responsibilities of the three posts. The Registrar is proposed to be given the responsibility of maintaining the academic records of the university and the register of graduates including the common cell. The Treasurer, as the Chief Financial Officer of the university, will prepare the annual and revised budget and present it before the Finance and Planning Committee, while the Controller of Examinations will look after the records of students and matters related to the conduct and examination of examinations.

The standing committee has to submit its report on the proposed bill within two months. After this, the legislative process will proceed and if approved, the bill will be sent to the Governor of Punjab for final approval.