Schools will reopen for grade 9 to 12 from April 19 in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
This development comes days after the provincial governments closed educational institutions over increasing coronavirus cases.
Punjab Education Minister Murad Ras said that classes will be held on Monday and Thursday. He added that classes will resume in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Multan, TT Singh, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, and DG Khan. Classes for grade 1-8 in high-risk districts will begin studies after Eidul Fitr, he further said.
The minister also said that classes will continue in all other districts across Punjab as the government had only imposed restrictions on high-risk districts.
Examinations for grade 9-12, O, and A-Level will be conducted as per schedule, the education minister added.
KP Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Shahram Khan Tarakai said that the provincial coronavirus task force had decided classes 9-12 would resume from April 19. “It is planned to stagger classes of grade 9, 10, 11, 12 under the strict compliance of SOPs while the rest of the classes will be started from 27 April 2021,” he said.
“All public and private educational institutions including cadet colleges, model schools, madaris, academies and tuition centers in the Districts of Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, Mardan, Swabi, Kohat, Swat, Malakand, Dir Lower, Dir Upper, Buner, Bajaur, Khyber, Shangla, Abbottabad, Haripur, Chitral Upper, Chitral Lower, Mansehra, DI Khan, and Bannu shall commence classes for grade-9 to grade-12 from 19 April,” a notification from the education department said.
Meanwhile, the remaining classes, i.e., from grade-1 to grade-8, shall remain closed till April 27, the notification said. The districts where educational institutions have not been closed because of the Covid-19 situation shall continue to hold all classes as per standing instructions, it added.
