Today should have been the first day of the new school year for the kids at Christ Public School.
However, due to extremely cold weather, the Pakistani government in that province has extended the winter vacation for both public and private schools.
This is the news article (on the left) that Amin posted in his Facebook timeline.
Understanding the School Year
The school year in Pakistan is different than in many other places including the U.S. In fact, there are two different calendars within Pakistan, depending on whether the school is a Christian school or a secular school.
Most Christian schools end the old school year and begin the new school year according to the calendar year. So, toward the end of December, the children are taking their final exams and having the big Results Day event where they learn their test scores, receive trophies for achievement, and are promoted to the next class.
Secular schools, on the other hand, will end their school year in March and begin the new year in April. So when those kids are going back to school in January following the winter break, it is still the same school year (just like here in America).
Winter Vacation runs for about two weeks. (The Results Day is actually a special celebration that’s held during the break.) This year, the break is closer to being three weeks long because of the weather delay.
Books for the coming school year are frequently given out on Results Day at Christ Public School, but there was a delay this year due to shortage of funds. Books were distributed to the kids from December 28th to 30th.
And then, school was supposed to start again on January 2nd, but now it will start on January 7th instead.
Meanwhile, Amin appreciates all donations that have been received so far, and has faith for the remaining funds to be provided, as he will be making the installment payments for the books at the end of each month.
The shop owner was willing to let Amin pay for the books in three installments, to be paid in full by March 31st.