Monday, 4th Jan 2021: Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood chaired the Inter-Provincial Education Ministers Conference (IPEMC) today to decide the reopening of schools in the country. It was decided that the educational institutions will be opened from 18th January in phases.
In the first phase, classes from 9th to 12th will reopen from 18th January 2021. In the second phase, primary and secondary classes from 1 to 8, will open from 25th January 2021. In the last phase, Higher Education institutes and universities will re-open from 1st February 2021.
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Addressing a press conference along with the Federal Minister for Education, Special Assistant for Health Dr. Faisal Sultan said that we have taken strict precautionary measures which were related to the closure of our educational institutions and other SOPs such as Large gatherings, wedding halls, and restaurants banned dining in closed spaces.
“The most obvious effect was the closure of educational institutions. These educational institutions are a very important part of the future of our country and we closed them on purpose,” he said.
“The data makes it clear that we may need to be more careful and proactive at this point in time so that the intensity of our second wave has lessened before the opening of educational institutions,” he said. Dr. Faisal Sultan said that the establishment of educational institutions had an effect and the second wave saw some stagnation.
Earlier the federal government, on the recommendation of the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), had closed educational institutions from November 26, 2020, to January 10, 2021.