Winter vacations in schools to start from January 3: NCOC

ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Friday decided that the winter vacations in schools will start from January 3.

A meeting chaired by NCOC head Asad Umar to review the rescheduling of winter vacations of education institutes was held today. Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood, SAPM Health Dr Faisal Sultan and all other stakeholders also attended the session.

An earlier meeting of the NCOC had ended inconclusively after the participants could not agree on the dates. The education ministry had recommended December 25 as the date to begin winter vacations but the apex COVID-19 body did not agree to it.

“It has been decided that winter vacations for education institutions will commence from January 3, 2022 (except in areas affected by extreme weather conditions or fog). Provincial entities will notify accordingly,” the forum said in a statement after the morning session.

It added that the decision has been taken to maximise vaccine uptake amongst students in educational institutions, which can be best achieved when schools are open as millions of students remain unvaccinated, and data suggests that children may be susceptible to infection.

The NCOC urged parents to get their children vaccinated at the earliest to protect them and those around them.

Additionally, it added, global trends regarding the spread of the Omicron variant suggest that an upsurge of cases typically happens within a few weeks of the detection of the variant.

“In light of this information, it will be prudent to schedule winter vacations in Pakistan in January to coincide with the potential uptick of cases. This will allow for minimal disruption of educational calendars if there is a surge in cases.”

The apex COVID-19 body urged all the citizens to get their vaccinations, including those who have not yet gotten their second doses. “Complete vaccination offers the highest protection against the disease,” it further added.

The Sindh government, however, has already announced winter vacations in all educational institutions from Dec 20 to Jan 01.