ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Wednesday decided to shift the annual winter holidays in educational institutions to January from December, Geo News reported, citing sources.
The winter break is aimed to fall on the coldest days of the year but since 2017, the colder period has started to come much later — starting late December — as the weather grows more unpredictable across Pakistan as a result of climate change.
The meeting was held primarily because the government had sought to defer the holidays to complete the vaccination drive.
A meeting of the federal body was also held Tuesday wherein federal and provincial education secretaries discussed, among other matters, the shifting of winter vacations to January.
The Sindh government Monday announced the winter holidays in educational institutions from December 20 to January 3. But a handout from the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training said “a final decision will be taken at tomorrow’s [Wednesday’s] NCOC meeting”.
Today’s decision was “backed by all provinces”, the report said.
“The decision was taken in line with the recommendations forwarded during the inter-provincial education ministers conference,” it added.
The NCOC also decided to continue the vaccination drive in educational institutions, and added that institutions will remain closed beyond the date in snowfall-hit towns.
Participants of the said meeting also discussed full enforcement of political map in provincial educational setup.
Educational institutions have already been using the latest map which was introduced by the federal government in July last year.
“But, the [meeting] will discuss if the political map is completely enforced in all provincial educational setups,” an official from the ministry told the media earlier this week.
Prime Minister Imran Khan who introduced the map at a ceremony pointed out it reflected the national aspiration and supported a principled stance on the Kashmir dispute.
The new map was made public a day before Pakistan observed the first anniversary of the annexation of India-occupied Kashmir.
