Academic situation review on Nov 5 amid Covid-19 resurgence

Education ministry to discuss moving academic year, winter vacations, 8th grade board examinations among other agendas

ISLAMABAD:

The Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training will be convening an Inter-Provincial Education Ministers' Conference (IPEMC) on November 5 to review various academic agendas in view of the rising Covid-19 cases. as per a notification issued by the ministry on Tuesday.

The meeting will be presided over by Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood and attended by education ministers of all the provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

According to the notification, the agenda of the meeting entails a Covid-19 situation update, decision on winter vacation in educational institutions as well as moving the academic year from April to August. Board examinations of the eighth grade will also be discussed.

 

PHOTO: EXPRESS

The education minister, on November 2, again clarified amid rumours that educational institutions were not being closed.

In a tweet, the minister stated that, “We will continue to monitor the situation as the health of the students, teachers and staff is very important but at the moment no such decision has been made,” he said.

 

Rumours again afloat regarding school closures. It is again clarified that educational institutions are NOT being closed. We will continue to monitor the situation as health of the students, teachers and staff is very important but at the moment no such decision has been made

— Shafqat Mahmood (@Shafqat_Mahmood) November 2, 2020

 

Following an almost six-month break in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak, educational institutions in Pakistan reopened in mid-September after the National Coordination and Operation Centre’s approval.