Punjab’s new winter school timings and a family plan for smog season

Ask the head of any primary school in Lahore about November and you will hear about the phone call. A parent, slightly out of breath: “Is school open tomorrow?” Some years the answer arrives the night before, forwarded from one WhatsApp group to the next. Some years it arrives at seven in the morning, after the uniforms have been ironed.

This winter has begun with new timings for government schools, and the smog will not be far behind. Here is what has been announced, what past winters taught us, and a plan to set up this weekend so a sudden closure or a short day doesn’t cost your child a month of learning.

The new timings, from 16 October

Punjab’s School Education Department has set new timings for all government schools from 16 October 2026 to 31 March 2027. The notification is signed by the School Education Secretary, Muddassir Riaz Malik.

At girls’ schools, district education officers may move these times by up to 15 minutes to suit local needs. If your child is at a private school, follow that school’s own notice.

In practice, children in morning schools are home by early afternoon, and earlier still on Fridays.

What past smog seasons tell us

Lahore has been here before.

• In December 2022, on the Lahore High Court’s directions, public and private schools in Lahore were closed three days a week, Friday to Sunday, “till further orders”.
• In November 2024, schools in the Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Multan divisions were already shut until 17 November. On 12 November the closure was widened to every institution up to higher secondary across Punjab, and classes moved online. Parks, zoos and playgrounds were closed, and government offices had to cut staff in the office to half.
• That same week, the NDMA warned that smog could persist in Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Bahawalpur, Peshawar, Mardan and Nowshera through November and December.

This year the air has turned early. On the night of 14 October, two days before the new timings began, IQAir put Lahore’s air quality index (AQI) at 210, a level it calls “very unhealthy”. The Punjab EPA’s own reading for the city was 143.

What this could mean this winter

This part is our reading of the pattern, not an announcement. If air quality turns hazardous in November and December, closures or shorter school weeks are likely again, and online classes may be announced at very short notice, sometimes the night before. Even if schools stay open, young children will spend long afternoons indoors, often with the windows shut. Families should be ready for both.

Make a closure kit this weekend

The families who cope best with a sudden closure are rarely the ones with the newest phone. They are the ones who decided a few things in advance. Put these in one place:

• The timetable. Your child’s school timetable on the fridge, with a note of which teacher sends work through which WhatsApp group or app.
• A phone plan. If three children share one phone, decide now who gets it when. The child with a live class goes first; the others do written work, then swap.
• Data in reserve. Keep a small data package aside, and learn how to turn a phone into a hotspot for when the Wi-Fi goes during load-shedding.
• A quiet corner. One table and one chair away from the television, where books, copies, two sharpened pencils and an eraser always stay.
• Power and sound. A charged power bank, and cheap earphones so the lesson isn’t competing with the pressure cooker.

A 90-minute home routine

On a closed day or a long afternoon, ninety minutes of real work is plenty for a primary child, and far better than four hours of half-work in front of the TV. Older children can do the cycle twice.

1. 20 minutes: reading aloud in Urdu or English. A small child can read to a grandparent, who will enjoy it even more than the child does.
2. 25 minutes: the day’s homework, or the worksheet the school sent.
3. 10 minutes: a break away from screens. Water, a snack, a stretch indoors.
4. 25 minutes: maths practice from the textbook, or the recording of the lesson they found hardest.
5. 10 minutes: pack tomorrow’s bag and tell someone one thing they learnt today.

Start at the same time every day. Children settle faster when the clock, not the parent, says it is time to begin.

Health basics for bad-air days

These are general precautions from official advice in past seasons. For anything about your own child, ask your doctor.

• Check the AQI every morning, and pick one source and stick to it. The Punjab EPA publishes readings at aqi.punjab.gov.pk; apps often show different numbers.
• On bad days, keep windows shut and save outdoor play for a better day. The NDMA has advised against unnecessary time outdoors, especially in the morning.
• If your child has to go out, a well-fitting mask helps. Keep them drinking water through the day.
• Children with asthma or other breathing problems need extra care. If a child is coughing more than usual or gets short of breath, see a doctor.

Make recordings work for you

If your child’s school records its online lessons, a recording helps only when someone watches the right part.

• Watch the hard ten minutes, not the whole hour.
• Pause before the teacher gives an answer, and let your child try first.
• Download recordings on Wi-Fi if the school allows it, so they don’t eat the data package.

Five questions to ask the school now

1. If schools close, will classes run online, and at what times?
2. Which app or WhatsApp group will you use, and who should parents call?
3. Will lessons be recorded for a child who misses one?
4. How will homework be sent and checked?
5. What happens to tests that fall during a closure?

Ask before the first closure, not during it. On the morning of a closure, the school office is answering everybody’s calls at once.

Do one small thing tonight: write the class teacher’s number and the name of the class WhatsApp group on the timetable on the fridge. And if a closure stretches into weeks and your child needs steady help in one subject, you can find a teacher on Education360 in a few minutes.

Sources

• Daily Pakistan: new Punjab school timings (14 Oct 2026)
• The Nation: Punjab revises school timings (14 Oct 2026)
• Dawn: Punjab closes all schools over hazardous air (12 Nov 2024)
• The Standard: three weekly off days for Lahore schools (7 Dec 2022)
• The Express Tribune: Lahore’s “very unhealthy” 210 (14 Oct 2026)
• Punjab EPA: Lahore air quality