Students from classes 9-12 return to school after two months

ISLAMABAD: Students from grade 9 to 12 returned to schools across the country after a break of two months because of the rising number of coronavirus cases and winter vacations.

The schools have opened with strict compliance of coronavirus standard operating procedures. Students of classes 8 and below will return to school from February 1. The schools were reopened after a high-level committee agreed on a phase-wise reopening of schools.

The Federal Minister for Education, Shafqat Mehmood, took to Twitter late Sunday evening and sent his best wishes to students of classes 9 to 12, as well as O and A level students, who are starting school from today.

"Tomorrow classes 9 to 12, O and A level go back to school/ college. Wish them the very best," the minister wrote. "Their future is our main priority." On Friday, January 16, the minister had held a high-level meeting at the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) to review the decision to reopen educational institutions amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

During the meeting, it was decided that classes will start for students of grades nine to 12 from January 18 as decided earlier. Unlike the previous year, the federal and provincial governments also decided that students will not be promoted without exams.

A one-week extension was granted to start the classes for students of grades 1-8. They were earlier supposed to start by January 25.

It was decided that primary schools will reopen from February 1, while higher education institutes will also reopen from February 1 as decided earlier. The NCOC will re-evaluate data in a week and decide whether primary schools and higher education institutes will reopen on February 1 in cities where infections rates are high. The minister also decided in the meeting that if the infection rate is high in a particular city, educational institutes may not reopen there.