On-campus classes for grade 1-8 delayed by 10 days in Sindh: Saeed Ghani  

KARACHI: Sindh government on Sunday announced to delay resumption of on-campus classes for grade one to eight in the province from April 21 by 10 more days amid rising COVID-19 cases, ARY NEWS reported.

Taking to Twitter, Saeed Ghani made the announcement that the academic activities for classes one to eight could, however, be continued through online platforms, homework provided from schools, and other mechanisms which included limited person-to-person interaction.

The education minister, however, announced resuming classes for ninth, matric, and intermediate students in schools and colleges with 50 percent attendance at a time. “The educational institutes should ensure strict COVID-19 SOPs in the schools and colleges,” directed Saeed Ghani in his post on the micro-blogging site.

Earlier in the day, Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood announced the resumption of academic activities for classes ninth to 12th in order to ensure preparation for the scheduled board exams nationwide.

Mahmood announced the decision in a presser after he chaired a meeting of health and education ministers from all provinces and regions in the country.

“The health and education ministers from four provinces, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir were present in the meeting,” he said.

The minister announced the resumption of academic activities in the COVID-19 affected areas for classes ninth to 12th so that the students could prepare for their examinations.

“The examinations for ninth to 12th classes will be held as per the new schedule and no exam will begin before the last week of May,” Shafqat Mahmood said adding that admissions in the universities would also be ensured keeping in view the fresh intermediate examination schedule.

He further announced that the examinations for A-Level, AS-Level, and O-level, and IGCSE would be held on the announced dates and there would be no delay or cancellation in the exam process.