ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters): All educational institutions in the districts of Islamabad, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that have a high rate of Corona positivity and infectivity will be closed until April 11, 2021.
The Federal Minister for Education & Professional Training, Shafqat Mahmood, briefed the media on Wednesday about the decisions reached the Virtual Inter-Provincial Health and Education Ministers Meeting held at the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) in Islamabad. He said the government has decided that educational institutions will remain closed in the selected districts, including.
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Nine districts in Punjab, including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Multan, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Sargodha, and Sheikhupura, will remain closed, while ten districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda, Swabi, Kohat, Malakand, Swat, Lower Dir, Nowshera, and Buner, will remain closed.
The remaining districts will operate on the same schedule as before.
Educational institutions in Sindh will remain open with a 50% attendance policy.
Dr. Faisal Sultan, the Prime Minister’s Special Advisor on Health, and the Provincial Health and Education Ministers, including Sindh Health and Education Ministers Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho and Saeed Ghani, and Punjab Health and Education Ministers Dr. Yasmin Rashid and Murad Raas, as well as the Punjab Minister of Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfraz, all attended the meeting.
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The meeting was also attended by Federal Education Secretary Farah Hamid Khan, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Federal Education and Professional Training Wajiha Qamar, Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) Dr. Tariq Banuri, and officials from the Education Department, the NCOC, the Ministry of Health, and other related departments.
The meeting discussed the situation in the country following the third wave of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Shafqat Mahmood, speaking to the media, said the Coronavirus situation in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Azad Kashmir is very serious. Sindh, Balochistan, and Gilgit Baltistan, on the other hand, have a lower virus intensity.
According to the minister, the next meeting of the education and health ministers will take place on April 7 to review the situation and make a decision.
According to Shafqat Mahmood, matric and intermediate (Part I & II) exams will be conducted according to the provincial governments’ and boards’ schedules.
In the wake of a COVID-19 outbreak, all educational institutions in Islamabad, as well as some districts in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, were closed from March 15 to 28, 2021.