Students and parents in Pakistan are waiting for the government to announce if schools will be closed over coronavirus. Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood has said the decision will be announced today [Monday] after the National Command and Operation Centre meets at 12pm.
To all those eagerly awaiting the outcome of tomorrow’s inter provincial education ministers meeting. I will be holding a press conference at 12.30 after the conclusion of the meeting in which all decisions would be announced .
— Shafqat Mahmood (@Shafqat_Mahmood) November 22, 2020
During the meeting, the members recommended that students should be given winter vacations from November 24 to January 31.
Another suggestion was to close schools in phases:
- Primary schools to close from November 24
- Middle schools to close from December 2
- Higher secondary schools to close from December 15
The final decision will be announced by the NCOC in a while.
Education ministers of all provinces had prepared their recommendations that were presented in the meeting.
Punjab
Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas does not want schools in the province to shut down.
If the government gives students winter vacations this year, we will have to reduce summer vacations to little or none, Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas told SAMAA TV on Friday.
“I’m not in favour of giving winter vacations. Schools have just reopened after six months,” he said, adding that if educational institutions do close down, online classes will resume. Students will be taught online and given homework.
He had a request for parents too. “Khuda ka wasta (for God’s sake), if you are not sending children to schools, don’t take them to northern areas or shopping malls instead,” he said.
“Schools are following COVID-19 SOPs the most and everyone wants them closed [as soon as virus surges]. I will ask the NCOC to ban children from entering all recreational spots.”
Sindh
Sindh, too, was of an opinion that schools should not be closed down.
In a meeting of the steering committee on Saturday, the provincial government said that students have already suffered huge losses due to the coronavirus lockdown and can not afford any more vacations.
The committee suggested that SOPs at educational institutions will be strictly implemented and schools that want to resume classes online can do so.
Balochistan
Winter vacations for educational institutions in Balochistan should commence from December 1, the province’s Education Minister Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind recommended.
He said that he recommended that examinations at schools and colleges should end by December 1. Rind suggested that the winter holidays should last for three months. “We are considering extending the vacations by 15 days this year.”
The province has postponed its annual examinations from classes one to eight as well.
The Balochistan Secondary Education Department announced that the exams that were supposed to be held in the last week of November will now be taken after March 10, 2021.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra has said that cases in the province are rising rapidly. The decision to open or close schools will be in accordance with the decisions taken in the NCOC meeting.
For now, our aim to control cases in the provinces as soon as possible, he said.
Education Ministry proposes a shutdown
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Education proposed to shut down educational institutions from November 24 to January 31.
Primary schools will be closed from November 24, middle schools from December 2 and higher secondary schools be closed from December 15, the ministry proposed in its letter to the provinces.
However, the education ministry officials want teachers to come to educational institutes.
The ministry proposed calling teachers to schools and colleges to prepare for online classes. Online education systems, such as Teleschool and Teleradio, can be implemented, it recommended.
The recommendations will also be presented in today’s meeting. Schools in the country were reopened in September after a lockdown of six months.
from SAMAA https://ift.tt/2UTRHsx
Post a Comment