NCOC meeting to review opening of educational institutions under way

ISLAMABAD, APR 6: The National Command and Operation Centre is currently holding a meeting to review the opening of educational institutions in Covid hotspots across the country.

Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood is chairing the meeting which is also being attending by provincial health ministers and officials.

Today's NCOC session will also review standard operating procedures (SOPs) for Ramazan in light of suggestions from religious scholars.

Mehmood said on Twitter that during the session the government will "decide whether to open or further close educational institutions. The exam situation will also be discussed."

Earlier, even though Mehmood had announced that schools will remain closed, he had stressed that board examinations will take place according to their timetable as giving students "baseline" grades was no longer an option.

Schools and learning centres in Islamabad and several major cities of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been closed since March 15 in light of surging coronavirus cases.

The decision on closures during the third wave of the virus was first taken on March 10 by the NCOC, when it was decided that educational institutions in 10 major cities, including Islamabad, will be given a two-week spring break from March 15 to March 28.

However, as cases continued to rise and spread to more cities in Punjab and KP, the NCOC in a review on March 24 decided to extend the closures till April 11, this time including more cities in the said provinces. At the time, institutes in Balochistan and Sindh were advised to maintain a 50 per cent attendance policy since the incidence of cases was lower in these provinces.

Areas other than Islamabad where educational institutes are closed:

Punjab

• Lahore
• Rawalpindi
• Gujranwala
• Gujrat
• Multan
• Faisalabad
• Sialkot
• Sargodha
• Sheikhupura

KP

• Peshawar
• Mardan
• Charsadda
• Swabi
• Kohat
• Lower Dir
• Malakand
• Swat
• Nowshera
• Buner

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Two days ago, the Sindh government also suspended physical classes for grades one till eight in all public and private schools for 15 days starting April 6 (today) in view of the rising incidence of Covid-19 cases in the province.

Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani said schools will be able to continue delivering online classes, or keep the students engaged through homework and other means.

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