Summer camps lack appeal in hot dry weather

Summer camps meant for keeping the students in touch with their studies are annoying for majority of them when they have to face scorching heat of summer. Different educational institutions especially private schools arrange summer camps to help students in studies and stimulate their creativity.
Talking to APP, Amir a parent of a school going boy said, children dream about summer vacation during which they have a lot of time to play games, go for outing, watch movies and sleep when they want to. "We wonder why summer holidays are announced when we have to trudge through summer camps with all notebooks and text books to write, memorise and do all the burdensome math exercises and quirky science questions," a student Zaheer said.
Summer vacations are inevitable as sun burns hot in the months of June, July and August and for students it is difficult to continue their studies in unbearably sultry rooms and travel in high temperatures. An official told APP that Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) will not hold summer camps this year due to the severity of weather.
FDE used to hold summer camps in the past while some private schools came up with the idea of arranging online classes so that students could keep in touch with their studies while staying in the safe environment of their homes. However, while expressing his views a student said: "Holidays are holidays and what satisfaction there is even if they are told repeatedly that summer camps are for their own good as practice makes perfect and the effort will result in good marks in examinations."
Teachers have the best interest of the students in their mind but even that sincerity is not enough and students and parents are divided over the issue. Some think, holding classes in summer camps help students retain the knowledge gained in the previous months.
But the critics say, summer camps are a kind of over schooling and they believe that children need two or three months of holidays to relax. In this time students also keep themselves away from problems they used to face in schools where they often have to bear punishment given by the teachers, and stress while making efforts to come up to the expectations of others in studies and examinations.
A portion of students wants to spend vacation on their own but schools have different plans. Shagufta, a private schoolteacher said, the camps are organised with very specific activities in mind. The camps are mandatory for students, who had to appear in board examinations of fifth, eighth and matric classes, she added. Most parents approve such camps but many have reservations about these camps for little children at Montessori level or early stages of schooling.