Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood was petitioned by students on social media to order the resumption of online classes instead of on-campus ones on Monday.
As primary schools and universities limped back to normalcy and opened after a nearly thee-month gap on Monday, several students took to social media to urge the minister to do away with on-campus classes, after he said that online ones were not substitutes.
"To those universities who are still not opening despite government permission, I have this to say; Online lessons however good are no substitute for on campus classes. Also interactions in the university mould social behaviour. They should reconsider," he tweeted.
However, there were some students who thanked the minister for allowing universities and educational institutions to reopen as they felt teachers didn't know how to hold classes online.
Pakistan primary schools, universities reopen after nearly 3-month gap amid COVID-19 pandemic
Primary and middle schools and universities across Pakistan reopened today (Monday) after a gap of nearly three months as the country continues to fight the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
NCOC decides all remaining classes should resume
The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), after a detailed discussion with all stakeholders, had decided that educational institutions shall resume all remaining classes — at the primary, middle and university level — on February 1.
The forum decided that students in Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore and Peshawar would attend classes with 50% strength on alternate days.
Read more: Pakistan decides to reopen schools amid coronavirus pandemic
However, universities would resume operations as per the usual schedule.
The forum was informed that globally, the disease trend had witnessed a hike after the complete reopening of the education sector, therefore the approach to cut down the attendance on a given day would help in reducing the resurgence of the contagion.
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