Sindh convenes meeting on schools' closure as coronavirus cases spike

KARACHI: Amid rising coronavirus cases across the country, Sindh Education Department on Friday summoned a meeting to deliberate shutting down schools and colleges to prevent virus spread.

The meeting will be attended by representatives of the private schools association.

During the meeting, the stakeholders will consider recommendations made by the federal government with regard to educational institutes. Earlier this week, the Federal Ministry of Education proposed closing down primary schools from November 24 and secondary from December 2 until January 31 next year.

The committee's recommendations will be presented before the Inter-Provincial Education Ministers' Conference (IPEMC) scheduled for November 23 [Monday].

On Tuesday, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani had ruled out the possibility of winter vacations this year. He said students have been given more holidays than usual this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to Geo.tv, Federal Minister for Planning and Development and National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) Chief Asad Umar said the body will be recommending cutting short the 2021 summer break to compensate for early and extended winter vacations this year.

"No sector comes close to the education sector in terms of the number of people attached to it. There are over 50 million students across Pakistan," he said. "Although children have the ability to fight the disease better, they are carriers [of the virus]."

"I think we should announce early and extended winter vacations to contain the second wave of infections," he continued. "The summer break can be curtailed to ensure that the number of school days does not change."