Punjab issues schedule for reopening schools

The Punjab School Education Department (SED) on Monday has issued the schedule and academic timetable to be observed in all public as well as private schools of the province as educational institutions will reopen on September 15.

According to a SED notification, the chief executive officers (CEO) of District Education Authorities (DEAs) will ensure the implementation of the schedule and the academic timetable in Punjab, along with the standard operating procedures (SOPs), in the schools.

The CEOs, in consultation with the Quaid-e-Azam Academy for Educational Development (QAED), are required to devise a grade-specific customized framework of action in line with guidelines issued, inclusive of reduced syllabi for the current academic session, the notification says.

All public and private schools will divide the students into two equal groups (class- wise) i.e. Group-A and B and concerned monitoring officers will be updated accordingly about it.

The district education officer (DEO) concerned will keep compiled data for inspection of monitoring committees (constituted earlier regarding Covid-19).

The first group — Group-A– will attend school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays every week as per the schedule. 

While the second, Group-B, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

However, the timetable will be observed for both groups with prescribed study hours during a day.

The syllabi have also been reduced by 40 percent to be covered in the formative and summative assessments as the academic session has been reduced to almost half amid pandemic.

The provincial government had earlier announced that all the public and private schools would reopen in three phases. In the first phase, students of grades 9 to 12 will start attending their schools on Sept 15, in the second phase grade 6-8 classes will resume on Sept 23 after a review of the Covid-19 situation, and the primary sections will be reopened on Sept 30.

Furthermore, the private educational institutions are given liberty to manage their own calendar by observing the SOPs.

It was earlier that the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD) said students and teachers are not reqiored to bring reports of their coronavirus test ahead of the reopening of educational institutes.