Federal government on Monday, announced step-wise reopening of educational institutions from January 18th.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood said that educational institutions will reopen from January 18th.
Shafqat Mahmood said that students of 9-12 grade will be allowed to go to educational institutions from January 18th, followed by students of grade 1-8 who will be allowed to attend schools from January 25th.
However, online classes are to be commenced from January 11th along with reopening of schools for administration/staff from the same day.
Meanwhile universities along with other higher education institutions will be opened from February 1st across the country, said the federal education minister.
Furthermore, Shafqat Mahmood announced that all board exams have been postponed and will now be held in May-June.
The decision to reopen educational institutions was made during a virtual inter-provincial meeting of education ministers which was attended by provincial education ministers of all four provinces.
Expressing his views in the press conference Dr Faisal Sultan – SAPM on Health, highlighted the necessity to strictly adhere to COVID-19 SOPs and guidelines issued by the government in order to minimize the spread of the novel virus.
It is pertinent to know that education institutions across Pakistan are currently closed since November 26th in accordance to the decision made in inter-provincial education ministers meeting which had earlier decided to close educational institutions till January 10th.
Although education is a provincial matter, under the 18th Amendment, the provinces adopted Center’s policy owing to a Supreme Court decision directing for a uniformed policy to tackle the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
