Any decision to extend school hours till 3 pm will solely rest with the schools with the consent of students, parents and teachers, the Secretary said.

The President has only called on authorities to look into the possibility of applying this extension to the project to build 1000 new schools, he said.

“It is purely a matter of the school since that decision should be taken by that particular school. But the children are benefited by extending school time to 3 pm because children have more time to attend to many extra curricular activities such as physical training, aesthetic activities such as dancing, music, life skills and other cultural activities and many more,” he said, making a clarification on behalf of the Government countering anti- government propaganda which created an impression that the Government has insisted on all schools to conduct classes till 3 pm.