Sindh Restores Six-Day School and College Week From August 1
KARACHI: The Sindh government announced on Thursday that public and private schools and colleges across the province will return to a six-day working week from August 1. The revised schedule will require educational institutions to operate from Monday through Saturday until the provincial authorities issue further orders.
The decision was communicated through separate notifications issued by the Sindh School Education and Literacy Department and the College Education Department. It will take effect as institutions reopen following the summer break, making Saturday a regular academic and working day for students, teachers and administrative staff.
According to the school education notification, every public and private institution operating under the department’s authority must observe the six-day week beginning August 1. A corresponding order for colleges introduced the same Monday-to-Saturday arrangement throughout the province.
The College Education Department also outlined working hours for its institutions. Morning-shift colleges will operate from 8:30am to 1:30pm from Monday to Thursday and on Saturday, while Friday hours will run from 8:30am to 11:30am. Evening-shift colleges will function from 3pm to 7pm on regular weekdays and Saturday, with separate Friday timings from 2:30pm to 5pm.
A spokesperson for the Sindh chief minister said the change was intended to address disruption to teaching and delays in completing the annual curriculum. The government maintained that teachers had also begun treating Saturday as a holiday, even though the earlier arrangement was intended primarily to reduce attendance requirements for students.
Sindh had moved educational institutions to a five-day schedule at the end of March as part of austerity and fuel-conservation measures introduced during the economic uncertainty caused by the regional conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran. Under that policy, Saturday and Sunday were observed as non-working days across schools and colleges.
The return to Saturday classes signals that provincial authorities now consider lost instructional time a more pressing concern. Schools and colleges must cover extensive academic programmes within fixed examination calendars, and continued five-day weeks could have forced teachers to compress lessons or reduce time available for revision and student assessment.
The policy will affect millions of students and families across Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana and other districts. Parents will need to adjust weekend routines, transportation plans and tuition schedules, while institutions must ensure that staff attendance, security, utilities and school transport are available for the additional working day.
Private educational institutions will also be required to follow the order because the notification applies to both government-run and privately managed schools and colleges. Education authorities are expected to monitor compliance after reopening and may issue further guidance if institutions seek clarification about timetables, examinations or staffing arrangements.
The immediate priority for administrators will be implementing the revised timetable from the first day of reopening without disrupting students. The six-day schedule will remain in place until further notice, meaning any future return to a five-day week will require another formal decision from the Sindh government.