ISLAMABAD: All education institutions in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province can call in their students once a week to provide them learning material and teaching assistance, said a provincial minister on Wednesday, if these institutes lack necessary facilities to arrange online classes.
Addressing a news conference in Peshawar, KP’s education minister, Shahram Tarakai, said that the assignments given to students would be evaluated and count toward their final grade at the end of the academic year.
Pakistan decided to shut all education institutions earlier this week amid the rising number of coronavirus infections in the country.
The decision was taken in a meeting of education ministers that was arranged to decide the future strategy as the second wave of the pandemic sweeps the country.
Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood asked all education institutions to give their students “homework online,” though he added that the provincial administrations could decide their course of action wherever it was not possible.
KP’s provincial education minister said on Wednesday that schools would remain closed for students from November 26 to December 23, though school staff would remain available to facilitate home-based learning of their students.
He continued that all boarding schools would shift to online lessons, adding that a maximum of 30 percent students, who lack the facility to take online classes, would be accommodated by these institutions.
Tarakai maintained that schools that continued to offer boarding facility to their students would also be responsible to ensure strict adherence to officially prescribed safety measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to hold weekly classes as schools shut across Pakistan over COVID-19 fears
https://arab.news/zkvr8
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to hold weekly classes as schools shut across Pakistan over COVID-19 fears
- The provision is meant for those institutes that cannot offer online classes, says the provincial education minister
- Students who cannot access online classes may continue to avail boarding facility
US freezes visa processing for 75 countries, media reports Pakistan included
- State Department announces indefinite pause on immigrant visas starting Jan 21
- Move underscores Trump’s hard-line immigration push despite close Pakistan-US ties
ISLAMABAD: The United States will pause immigrant visa processing for applicants from 75 countries starting Jan. 21, the State Department said on Wednesday, with Fox News and other media outlets reporting that Pakistan is among the countries affected by the indefinite suspension.
The move comes as the Trump administration presses ahead with a broad immigration crackdown, with Pakistan included among the affected countries despite strong ongoing diplomatic engagement between Islamabad and Washington on economic cooperation, regional diplomacy and security matters.
Fox News, citing an internal State Department memo, said US embassies had been instructed to refuse immigrant visas under existing law while Washington reassesses screening and vetting procedures. The report said the pause would apply indefinitely and covers countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America.
“The State Department will pause immigrant visa processing from 75 countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates. The freeze will remain active until the US can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people,” the Department of State said in a post on X.
According to Fox News and Pakistan news outlets like Dawn, the list of affected countries includes Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, Russia, Somalia, Brazil and Thailand, among others.
“The suspension could delay travel, study, and work plans for thousands of Pakistanis who annually seek US visas. Pakistani consulates in the US are expected to provide guidance to affected applicants in the coming days,” Dawn reported.
A State Department spokesman declined comment when Arab News reached out via email to confirm if Pakistan was on the list.
The Department has not publicly released the full list of countries or clarified which visa categories would be affected, nor has it provided a timeline for when processing could resume.
Trump has made immigration enforcement a central pillar of his agenda since returning to office last year, reviving and expanding the use of the “public charge” provision of US immigration law to restrict entry by migrants deemed likely to rely on public benefits.
During his previous term as president, Trump imposed sweeping travel restrictions on several Muslim-majority countries, a policy widely referred to as a “Muslim ban,” which was challenged in US courts before a revised version was upheld by the Supreme Court. That policy was later rescinded under the President Joe Biden administration.
The latest visa freeze marks a renewed hardening of US immigration policy, raising uncertainty for migrants from affected countries as Washington reassesses its screening and vetting procedures.
The freeze on visas comes amid an intensifying crackdown on immigration enforcement by the Trump administration. In Minneapolis last week, a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good, a US citizen, during a federal operation, an incident that has drawn nationwide protests and scrutiny of ICE tactics. Family members and local officials have challenged the federal account of the shooting, even as Department of Homeland Security officials defended the agent’s actions. The case has prompted resignations by federal prosecutors and heightened debate over the conduct of immigration enforcement under the current administration.
