Pakistan's health situation to decide reopening of schools, says Shafqat Mehmood

Pakistan's health situation would determine the reopening of schools and other educational institutions, said education minister Shafqat Mehmood, in his latest tweet on Saturday.

The Inter-Provincial Education Ministers Conference (IPEMC) is set to take place on January 4, 2021, to review the coronavirus pandemic situation and decide on when schools and other educational institutes should be reopened.

"Among other agenda points the most important would be an analysis of the health situation to determine re-opening of educational institutions," Mehmood said in a tweet.

The IPEMC had earlier decided to shut all schools, colleges, and universities from November 26 and announced that a review meeting would be held in the first week of January.

Two days earlier, responding to media queries, Mehmood said: "The IPEMC would meet on January 4 to review the pandemic situation in the country and make a decision about reopening of educational institutions."

Earlier, Sindh education minister Saeed Ghani had said that after evaluating the coronavirus situation, it did not seem possible that educational institutions would reopen in January 2021.

Ghani had reiterated his ministry's stance that unlike the last academic year, no student would be promoted to the next year without taking the examination this year.

Meanwhile, the owners of private schools have threatened to hold a long march towards Islamabad if schools are not allowed to resume classes from January 11.