All education institutions to be closed from Nov 26 amid surging Covid-19 positivity rate

All educational institutions, including schools, colleges and tuition centres, across the country will be closed from November 26 (Thursday) till 24 December 2020.

The Federal Minister for education Shafqat Mehmood made the announcement after high profile education ministers’ meeting held to review Pakistan’s Covid-19 situation and to make decisions pertaining to the closure of schools in Pakistan amid surging coronavirus cases.

Shafqat Mehmood briefed the press conference at the National Operations and Command Center (NCOC) along with SAPM on Health Dr Faisal Sultan about the decisions taken in the education minister’s meeting.

Federal Minister  said that “home learning” will continue from November 26 to December 24.

“From December 25 till January 10, 2021 there will be winter vacations. Then from January 11, if the situation improves, we hope we can once again open all educational institutions”, he announced.

The Minister for Education said all the examinations scheduled for the month of December have been postponed.

Federal Minister announced that all the board exams will now be held in May and June next year.

However, the vocational education involving practical work will continue. 

He said the tests for recruitment will also be held as per the schedule and those pursuing PhD as well as the research scholars can visit their institutes and labs.

Special Assistant on National Health Services Faisal Sultan said the virus positivity ratio over the last twenty four hours has remained over seven percent. He said the decisions taken at the NCOC were important to check the spread of the virus.