Sindh approves five-day school week for public and private institutions

The Sindh School Education and Literacy Department has withdrawn its earlier six-day working week directive, ordering all public and private educational institutions in the province to observe a five-day working week, from Monday to Friday, with immediate effect and until further orders.

The decision comes with approval of Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, according to a statement.

The notification, issued Wednesday by the Section Officer (A&T) with the approval of the competent authority, applies uniformly to all schools under the administrative control of the department — both government and privately managed.

This marks a further reversal from the department’s earlier positions. On July 29, the department had directed all public and private institutions to observe a six-day working week from August 1.

That order caused confusion and was later clarified to exempt private schools, which were told they could set their own weekly schedules “according to their own schedules and operative convenience,” while public schools continued the six-day week.

Wednesday’s notification supersedes both earlier orders, reinstating a standard five-day week across the board. The circular added that working hours for single-shift and double-shift schools would be issued separately.

Copies of the notification were forwarded to the Governor’s and Chief Minister’s offices, the Chief Secretary, and multiple education department directorates, with instructions to circulate it among public and private institutions for implementation and to publish it in the press.