Educational institutes to be reopened from Sept 15: Shafqat Mahmood
ISLAMABAD: Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood on Thursday said that the centre in consultation with the provincial governments had decided to reopen educational institutes from Sept 15 this year.
Educational activities at institutes were suspended immediately after spread of coronavirus in Pakistan in a bid to contain the viral infection.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Shafqat Mahmood said provinces could devise a separate standard operating procedures for educational institutes, which should be first practiced by their managements along with teachers.
“SoPs should be prepared for opening academies. In case of non-compliance with the SoPs, exams will be halted,” he said. Managements of the institutes could practice the SoPs with teachers one or two weeks before the designated time, he added.
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The minister said that they would review the decision before opening of the educational institutes in light of health indicators amid COVID-19 pandemic.
He said they had received several suggestions such as calling half classes on one day and other half on the other day and dividing the number of students of one class into two.
Punjab Education Minister had earlier said that the educational institutes would be opened in phases.
Shafqat Mahmood said that the students who could not afford internet facilities or the areas where the technology was not affected were affected the most. He said universities could call those students to hostels in August, whose academic activities were affected due to lack of internet facilities. However, he said, hostel occupancy should not exceed 30 percent.
He said health check would be mandatory at schools, colleges and universities.
