Govt decides in principle to reopen educational institutions from Sept 15

ISLAMABAD: The inter-provincial education ministers’ conference (IPEMC) on Monday decided in principle to allow educational institutions to reopen on September 15 starting from universities, colleges, and classes nine and ten, ARY News reported.

The decision was made during a meeting of the IPEMC presided over by Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood. All the provincial education ministers attended the meeting through video link.

Sources relayed the conference decided to green-light universities, colleges, classes nine and ten to resume sessions from September 15. The authorities will monitor the coronavirus situation following the resumption of classes of 9th graders onward, after which classes six to eight will be allowed to resume.

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They said all provincial education ministers agreed on resumption of academic activities in the country in a phase-wise manner and resolved to ensure strict implementation of the SOPs to prevent resurgence of the virus.

Officials of the Ministry of Health briefed the meeting about the current coronavirus situation in the country.

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The meeting thrashed out recommendations regarding reopening of educational institutes, which will be forwarded to the National Coordination Committee (NCC) for approval.

Among the agenda points that were taken up in today’s meet are finalising standard operation procedures (SOPs) for educational institutions, short curriculum for the current academic year, and 2021 examination. The issue of a uniform curriculum will also be discussed.