Students to go to school on alternate days in these Punjab districts

Students in certain districts of Punjab will not be following the regular five-day attendance rule, Punjab Minister for Education Murad Raas said on Friday.

In a notification released on Twitter, a list of districts has been shared which will follow the alternate school day rule until April 1 due to higher coronavirus incidences there.

Districts not in the list "will follow prior COVID-19 schedule," Raas wrote.

The attached notification states that districts that have a higher COVID-19 positivity ratio, such as more than 20 cases in the last 24 hours, will be subject to the alternate day rule.

The districts with such positivity rates are reported to be Lahore, Gujrat, Multan, Rahim Yar Khan, Sialkot, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad.

According to the existing rule: "Students of all the educational institutions shall attend classes on alternate days with 50% ratio on any single working day as detailed in earlier letter [...] dated 12th September, 2020."

The above was amended to state: "Students of all the educational institutions are allowed to attend classes 5/6 days a week (as the case may be) w.e.f. 01-03-2021 except in the districts mentioned above."

According to the notification, the amendment will be reviewed on March 31.

Strict implementation of safety measures must be ensured and has already been communicated to all those concerned, it added.

5-day regular schedule announced

A day earlier, Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood announced that all schools would resume regular 5-day classes from March 1.

“Restrictions imposed in some major cities on schools to conduct staggered classes was only till Feb 28,” he added.

Raas' notification was to distinguish and clarify that the districts with high positivity will be exempt from this rule.