Classes From 1-8 Grade Suspended Till Eidul Fitr, SSC Exams In Third Week Of May

Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood announced the new decisions made during a meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday.

Key findings of the meeting are as follows:

• Classes 1-8 will remain suspended in affected districts till April 28
• Classes 9-12 will resume for in-person learning from April 19 across Pakistan
• Universities in areas with a high positivity ratio will remain closed for physical classes
• All exams to be held as per schedule
• Cambridge exams will be held as announced earlier
• Universities asked to extend entry exam dates
• Next NCOC meeting on April 28

Addressing a press briefing after the NCOC meeting in Islamabad, Shafqat said that the decision regarding the closure of schools till Eid will be taken on April 28.

The federal minister said that the education minister of Punjab had informed him that 13 districts across the province are affected by the coronavirus. Therefore, he said on-campus classes will not be held in the schools till April 28.

He announced that the Class 9 and 10 examinations will be held in the third week of May, while O Level exams will be conducted as per schedule.

“The educational institutes will resume 9-12 classes from April 18 with strict SOPs in a staggered way even in the affected districts so that they can complete their course,” he said.

Furthermore, the classes for grades 9, 10, and 11 will resume from April 11 while the provincial governments will take a decision to close schools where the situation is worsening. 

The minister further added that examinations across the country will be held from the third week of May. Meanwhile, Cambridge exams will be held as per schedule.

“Universities in affected districts will also remain closed and classes will be held online,” he said, adding that in other districts, universities will remain open and function as normal.

The minister said that they had requested the universities to extend the admission schedule a little bit.

Later in the day, the federal minister also shared the key findings of the NCOC meeting in a series of tweets.

“Education/Health Ministers of Pakistan unanimously made following decisions at NCOC today: 1) In districts affected by corona classes from 1 till 8th will remain closed till 28th April. 2) In these districts classes 9th till 12th will resume in a staggered manner from April 19th,” he said.

“In the Education Ministers conference today it was also decided unanimously that all exams will take place. A/ AS and O level date sheets have already been announced. Classes 9 to 12 exam dates will be announced by respective boards but will be after Eid,” notified Shafqat Mahmood.

“Decisions regarding exams are final. Students should start preparing and working hard. This decision will not be changed so no one should have any uncertainty in their mind. Everything has been done keeping interest of education in mind. My very best wishes to everyone,” he concluded.