ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s federal and provincial education and health ministers on Friday decided to reopen schools across the country, announcing that classes 9 to 12 would recommence their academic activities from January 18 while classes 1 to 8 would resume them from February 1.
Addressing a news conference after the meeting, Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood said that high school students would not be promoted this year without taking exams.
He also maintained that all decisions related to the opening and closing of education institutes were taken on the basis of statistical information available on the coronavirus pandemic while admitting that students had suffered loss of education in the last several months.
The minister also informed there would be another review of infection rates in different parts of the country before reopening primary and middle schools along with higher institutes of learning.
Earlier this month, Mahmood had announced that educational institutions would reopen across Pakistan in three phases starting January 18, after closing schools and universities in late November to curb new coronavirus infections.
On November 26, the government announced that students, including those at higher education institutes as well as in private schools, were expected to continue classes through distance learning until December 24 and then go on winter break until January 11.
“While I desperately want education to continue, the final decision will be on health grounds,” Mahmood wrote on Twitter. “Students wellbeing will always be a priority.”
The minister’s remarks came as Pakistan reported its biggest jump in coronavirus cases in nearly a month this week.
Data issued by the National Command and Operations Center (NCOC) on Friday showed 3,097 people had tested positive for COVID-19 across the country on January 13, raising the national tally to 511,921.
The last time Pakistan’s single-day tally crossed the 3,000 mark was on December 18 last year when NCOC reported 3,179 infections.
On Friday, government data showed 2,417 new cases were reported in 24 hours, with 45 deaths.
On January 4, Mahmood had announced that grades 9-12 would resume classes on January 18 in the first phase, students in primary school up to grade 8 would start classes from January 25 in the second phase, while universities and other higher educational institutions would reopen from February 1 in the third and last phase. This plan is once more under review due to rising coronavirus infections.