LAHORE: Owners of private schools in the provincial metropolis have finally `accepted` the DCO`s order to close their institutions on Thursday (today) in connection with Data Sahib`s Urs.

The city district government had asked the private schools to observe a holiday on Thursday in connection with the Data Sahib`s Urs and H azrat Imam Husain`s chehlum. But they expressed reluctance to comply with the order.

`However, taking note of the situation the DCO warned owners of the private schools that strict actionwill be taken against them if they do not comply,` said an official of the education department.

At this, the private schools started on Wednesday evening sending messages to the mobile phone of parents informing about the closure of the school on Thursday (today).

Earlier, the private schools often would not follow the order of the education department or the DCO regarding observing holiday(s) on different occasions.

COMPETITION: A private school on Wednesday won a business game competition, `Popcorn Search Challenge` conducted by the Association of Chartered CertifiedAccountants held at leading schools of Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.

Three schools reached the Enal round and Beaconhouse Liberty Branch, Lahore, won the competition.

The purpose of the competition was to provide a platform to students to develop their skills in entrepreneurship. The challenge entailed developing an income statement which in turn would create awareness amongst students about a careerin professionalaccountancy.

Dania Ahsan of the winning team said: `The game provided students an insight into a career in accountancy in a fun and interactive way by illustrating how financial decisionscan impact the success of an organisation.

Through this competition we learnt the importance of team work and how crucial the effective decision making is in real life business environment.

Sajjeed Aslam, the ACCA Pakistan head, said: `It was so interesting to observe students participate in an interactive challenge that required teams to think carefully about the implications of the business decisions they make, to think in a creative way, work well as part of a team, develop good communication and presentation skills and to respond quickly to changing circumstances.