Extreme cold in January but holidays in Sindh in December

Karachi: Despite the rapid impact of global climate change on Pakistan, the Sindh Education Department is following decades-old policies regarding winter and summer vacations, which is directly affecting millions of students in the entire province, including Karachi. , are getting sick and attendance at schools is decreasing.

According to the information obtained from the Department of Meteorology, the cold wave has come in January in the last three years in Sindh, and especially in Karachi in December, the cold wave either does not come or there is a very short wave, while the cold wave in January is continuous and It comes many times in which sometimes the Siberian winds and sometimes the dry winds of Quetta blow and the cold freezes the blood.

However, for the past several decades, the Sindh Education Department has started winter vacations from December 22 and ends on December 31, but from January 1, when lakhs of students go to schools, the cold turns to Sindh.

Popular weather information websites accuweather and weather pak and the meteorological department itself declares January as the coldest month in Pakistan.

According to the temperature data obtained from the Department of Meteorology, the minimum average temperature of Karachi in the year 2020 was 10.7 degrees, in 2021 it was 9.1 degrees and in 2022 it was 12.8 degrees. The average minimum temperature is higher than that of January. The minimum average temperature in December 2020 is 12.5 degrees and the minimum average temperature in 2021 is 13.9 degrees.

Furthermore, the data obtained shows that the minimum temperature in Karachi dropped to 7 degrees in January 2020 and reached 5.6 degrees in January 2021, compared to 9 degrees in January last year. On the contrary, in December 2021, the minimum temperature of Karachi reached 9 degrees.

Recently this year on January 15, 2023, the temperature in Karachi was recorded up to 6 degrees and the airport and surrounding area reached 4.5 degrees. As a result, students continued to go to school and the intensity of winter is still at its peak, but the students of the province were at home in December during low winter and are in schools in January during high winter.

It should be noted that Pakistan is currently at the 8th place in the world in terms of the effects of climate change, due to which the intensity and duration of winter has increased and its time has changed completely.

An officer of the Meteorological Department says, “Earlier, vacations were given in December because December was a bit dry while January was monsoon and to protect students from the effects of dry weather, vacations were held in December. However, Now in January, the whole season is dry and the cold is also more.

It should be noted that the educational calendar in Sindh is determined by the steering committee of the department in a meeting chaired by the Minister of Education, in which the representatives of the secretary schools and secretary colleges as well as private associations and other stakeholders are also present. talks and neither is the school education department ready to change this illogical decision due to which students of Sindh go to school shivering in the worst cold while on the one hand children are getting sick due to extreme cold while on the other hand in schools. Attendance continues to decline.

Express also tried to get his opinion by contacting Secretary School Education Sindh Ghulam Akbar Laghari, but he kept avoiding contact.

It should be noted that due to the severity of the cold, a notification has been issued by them, in which the schools are required to start classes from 8:30 am, but the parents say that this is in conflict with the students. No less than a joke, if our children wake up half an hour late in the morning, will the cold be reduced?