By Abdullah Zahid.
ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday announced that educational institutions would reopen across the country in three phases starting January 18, after remaining closed for nearly two months due to the second wave of coronavirus.
On November 26, the government announced that students, including those at higher educational institutions as well as in private schools, were expected to continue classes through distance learning until December 24 and then go on winter break until January 11.
Announcing the decision in a news conference after a meeting of the provincial education ministers in the capital Islamabad, Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood said that in the first phase, classes nine to 12 would be allowed to resume from Jan 18.
He said that in the next phase, classes one to eight would resume on Jan 25. All higher educational institutions would resume from Feb 1, he added.
Reopening schedule:
• January 18 – Classes 9,10, 11 to start
• January 25 – Primary to class 8 will be back in school
• February 1 – Higher education institutions (universities and colleges) will reopen
Mahmood stated that the Covid-19 situation would again be reviewed by January 14 or 15. “Our top priority is children’s health,” he added.
He said teachers and other administrative staff can start working from January 11.
Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas also tweeted the schedule for resumption of classes in the country’s largest province:
Pakistan reported 1.895 new cases on Monday, and 39 deaths from the pandemic in the last 24 hours, a drop from the last few weeks. There have been 488,529 total cases in the country recorded so far, and 10,350 deaths.
