Reopening of schools: Shafqat Mehmood says future of students govt’s ‘main priority’

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood on Sunday said the future of students is government’s “main priority” as on-campus learning of classes from 9 to 12 resumed today.

The federal minister took to Twitter and wrote: "Tomorrow classes 9 to 12, O and A level go back to school/ college. Wish them the very best."

"Their future is our main priority."

On Friday, January 16, the minister had held a high-level meeting at the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) to review the decision to reopen educational institutions amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

During the meeting, it was decided that classes will start for students of grades nine to 12 from January 18 (today) as decided earlier.

Unlike the previous year, the federal and provincial governments also decided that students will not be promoted without exams.

A one-week extension was granted to start the classes for students of grades 1-8. They were earlier supposed to start by January 25.

It was decided that primary schools will reopen from February 1, while higher education institutes will also reopen from February 1 as decided earlier.

The NCOC will re-evaluate data in a week and decide whether primary schools and higher education institutes will reopen on February 1 in cities where infections rates are high.

The minister also decided in the meeting that if the infection rate is high in a particular city, educational institutes may not reopen there.