KP issues winter vacation schedule in educational institutions

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Wednesday issued a detailed schedule for the winter vacation as well as the closure of educational institutions due to Covid-19 and shifting educational activities to online learning and home-based studies.

A two-page detailed formal notification was issued. The winter vacation will be observed from December 24 to January 10, 2020-21.

The schedule will be simultaneously applicable on both summer and winter zone educational institutions.

The decision for extending the winter vacations for winter zone institutions shall be notified later, the notification said. Educational institutions should be closed for the students from November 26 to December 23 and thereafter for winter vacations.

However, during the closure period from November 23 to December 23 staff of the educational institutions will continue to attend institutions for facilitating home-based learning through online lessons and through the provision of homework, assignments on a weekly basis and their assessment, it said.

Students may also be encouraged and guided to make use of online resources already made available by the department on its website – kplearning.kpese.gov.pk, the notification added.

Public sector schools, private schools, academies, madaris and other educational institutions, which do not have the facility of providing online classes, were authorized to call the students on grade basis in such a way that one grade students were called for attendance for only one day in a week and that too as per schedule for giving homework, assignments, distributing learning material and providing teaching assistance feedback guidance to the students to facilitate and augment their home-based learning, it maintained.

The notification stated that these activities as far as possible and subject to weather conditions should preferably be conducted in the open or in the verandas of the educational institutions or in well-ventilated rooms.

It said the school managements shall ensure that no student was called to their institutions for more than once a week.

The notification said the homework shall be assessed and counted towards the overall result of the students in their school based exams at the end of the academic year. It said the institutions management should ensure a strict adherence to the already issued Covid-19 SOPs for the staff, students, and all those who work in any capacity in the institutions. All the internal school examinations scheduled to be held in December should be rescheduled for January 2021. All public, private boarding schools should shift to online lessons and may continue to provide accommodation to a maximum of 30 percent of its students who do not have the facility of taking online classes for the period from November 23 to December 23 for which educational institutions were providing home-based learning.

The students, who will be allowed boarding, will be housed strictly in accordance with Covid-19 protocols.

The notification said all the teachers training programmes, the recruitment process should continue as per schedule.