Decision on in-person learning tomorrow

Islamabad: Federal education minister Shafqat Mahmood on Sunday announced that the federal and provincial education and health ministers would meet at the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday (tomorrow) to decide about whether to continue with the suspension of in-person learning in educational institutions after April 11 or not.

He said matters related to exams would also be discussed in the meeting. In a tweet, the minister said whatever was decided at the meeting would be a collective decision of the country’s health and education authorities as well as the NCOC.

He said the decision would be taken considering coronavirus incidence in the country. In the last NCOC meeting on March 24, the education ministry announced the closure of educational institutions in virus hotspots of Islamabad, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa until April 11. After the outbreak of coronavirus, educational institutions across the country were closed in late February 2020. They reopened in phases from September 15, 2020. On November 23, 2020, after the second wave of coronavirus hit the country, the government announced the closure of educational institutions again from November 26, 2020.

Classes were taken online till December 24, 2020, and the winter vacation started on December 25, 2020, and were supposed to last till January 10. The NCOC later decided that schools would reopen in phases with classes nine to 12 being the first to reopen on January 18. On March 10, the government closed schools in Punjab, Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for two weeks in light of the third wave of the coronavirus.