Evening shift will soon be a thing of the past

Islamabad

If things go as planned, the long-delayed phased elimination of evening shift in Islamabad’s government schools will get underway next year.

Early last year, former prime minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani had ordered to do away with second-evening shift in Islamabad’s schools overseen by Federal Directorate of Education, but the decentralisation of the education ministry and red-tape blocked action on the orders issued to ensure unified education system in Islamabad capital territory.

Evening shift was introduced in Islamabad schools almost two decades ago to accommodate maximum number of students.

According to a source at the Capital Administration and Development Ministry, CAD Minister Nazar Muhammad Gondal will be announcing the elimination of evening shift from Islamabad schools in four phases during a function at a local educational institution in late November or early December.

Under the plan, according to the source, Islamabad’s all government model schools will stop offering admission to Prep-5th classes in evening shift from April 2013 onwards, while evening shift of 6th and 7th classes there will be abolished in April 2014. Evening shift for 8th-10th classes at government schools in Islamabad are to be done away with by April 2015.

And once evening shift ends, students will be adjusted to the nearest schools of their choice.

Under consideration, the source says, is another proposal that evening shift at Islamabad schools be eliminated in one go instead of phases to the comfort of the students.

According to the source, to put in place a unified education system in Islamabad capital territory, all educational institutions under FDE will have the same nomenclature, admission policy and schedule, fee/fund structure, syllabus, daily timings and working, curricular and co-curricular activities, annul calendar, distribution of workload of teachers, assessment/examination system (internal/external), student uniform, logo, code of ethics for teachers, parents and student societies.

When contacted, CAD Secretary Riffat Shaheen confirmed that abolition of evening shift in Islamabad schools was on the cards.

She, however, said that discussion on how to do it keeping the students’ benefit in view was underway at the ministry.

Posted in: Islamabad