KARACHI, May 8: The split between private school associations over election holidays caused much confusion and chaos on Wednesday when attendance remained very low in the schools that were open.

The government notification regarding election holiday schedule expected on Tuesday came rather late. And it was for schools to remain closed from May 9 to May 11 instead of the schedule issued by All Private Schools Management Association (APSMA), which had mentioned May 8 also as a holiday.

`We were expecting a government notification including Wednesday as a holiday, too. Italso made sense considering the city`s law and order situation. But the notification finalised by the CM came late in the evening on Tuesday when it was next to impossible for all schools to notify the parents,` Chairman of All Private Schools Management Association Syed Khalid Shah complained to Dawn.

`I happen to know that the summary sent to the CM was for May 8 to 11 but somehow one day was cut and it was changed to May 9,` he added.

`The schools with an SMS system informed the parents about the change but those that don`t have that facility failed to do so and their stu-dents missed school on Wednesday despite the schools being open,` he said.

`I think the one to be blamed here is the education department for remaining so lax on this issue. You can get an idea of the government`s attitude towards education from the fact that no education minister has been appointed by the interim government here,` he regretted.

Meanwhile, Senior Vice Chairman of Private Schools Management Association Sharaf uz Zaman, who had earlier opposed the idea of extra holidays, said that the association would follow the government notification now.