Educational institutes across Pakistan to reopen from June 7

Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani wrote in a Tweet on Sunday that “Sindh Corona Task Force has decided to reopen educational institutions of Sindh for class 9th and above from 7th June (tomorrow) with strict SOPs. All staff must be get vaccinated.”

Sindh Corona Task Force has decided to reopen educational institutions of Sindh for class 9th and above from 7th June(tomorrow) with strict SOPs. All staff must be get vaccinated.

— Senator Saeed Ghani (@SaeedGhani1) June 6, 2021

As per the decision taken in the inter-provincial liaison meeting of the Ministry of Education on the direction of NCOC, all educational institutions in Punjab will be reopened from June 7.

According to the notification issued by the Punjab Education Department, 50 per cent attendance in educational institutions will be ensured daily while students will not come to school for more than two consecutive days.

Earlier, in a press conference on Sunday afternoon, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani had announced that "educational institutions in the province will not be opened from June 7".

"Schools in Sindh have been closed till further notice. A meeting of the steering committee on educational institutions will be held soon in which a decision will be taken on whether to reopen the educational institutions or not after reviewing the situation in Corona cases."

Addressing a gathering on Sunday, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that if educational institutions were to be opened, teachers would have to be vaccinated.

Classes from class I to VIII will also reopen in educational institutions in the federal capital Islamabad from Monday, while classes for class IX and X were reopened on May 31.

Educational institutions in districts with less than 7% Covid positivity ratio in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were opened from May 31, while all the universities in the province will also be reopened from June 7.

In Balochistan, educational institutions for first to eighth-grade students will be opened from Monday, while educational institutions for ninth and 10th grades were opened last week.

It should be noted that in Pakistan, it has been decided to take only elective subjects from 10th and 12th class students.

It may be recalled that the Government of Pakistan has set up special desks at Coronavirus Vaccine Centers for teachers and staff of all private and private educational institutions and teachers can get the Corona vaccine at any time from any of the vaccine centres.

Last week, Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood announced that the ninth and tenth examinations would be taken of only four subjects in which three students would have self-selected subjects while mathematics would be compulsory.

According to Shafqat Mahmood, "Similarly, the 11th and 12th examinations will be from among the subjects selected only by the students."

"Instead of the last week of June, the exams will now start after July 10, giving students two more weeks to prepare," he said.

"Examination boards have been asked to keep a proper interval between papers," the federal education minister added.

It may be recalled that most of the educational institutions in Pakistan have been closed for the last one and a half years due to the COVID epidemic.