On Thursday, the Federal Minister for Education, Shafqat Mehmood took to Twitter to make an announcement regarding the recommencement of regular classes at school. He informed that it has been decided to resume 5 day classes at schools from 1st March onwards.
He announced, “All schools will go back to regular 5-day classes from Monday, March 1. Restrictions imposed in some major cities on schools to conduct staggered classes were only till Feb 28.”
“This announcement applies to every educational institution in the designated cities where restrictions had been imposed. Allah SWTs infinite mercy that we are returning to normal,” he added.
The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) last month, after carefully reviewing the overall situation of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, gave directives to resume classes in Karachi, Lahore, and Hyderabad with only half of the students on alternate days.
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The primary and university-level educational institutes were resumed from 1st February, keeping in mind all the necessary precautions for Covid-19. Speaking to journalists in Sukkur, Shafqat Mahmood ruled out further delay in reopening of primary schools and universities and added that the corona outbreak has already cost huge loss to the students’ studies.
The students were asked to strictly follow the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in the institutions’ premises.
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Moreover, on January 15, Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood had tweeted: “After a detailed analysis of the situation by health and education ministers we have decided to start classes for 9,10,11,12 as per the announced schedule of Jan 18. Priority is being given to them because of board exams that have been postponed to May, June.”
“All other educational institutions, that is class 1 to 8 and universities will reopen on Feb 1. In the meantime, we will review the situation city-wise next week.”
Keeping in view the higher numbers of reported Covid-19 cases in urban areas, NCOC decided to resume classes only thrice a week.
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