Shafqat Mehmood to finalise school reopening plan today

ISLAMABAD: All the education ministers will meet today with Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood in the chair to make a final decision regarding reopening of schools across Pakistan.

The health authorities will brief the ministers about the COVID-19 prevalence in the country and give their advice regarding the resumption of in-person learning at educational institutes.

Shafqat Mehmood in a tweet on Thursday said: “While I desperately want education to continue, the final decision will be on health grounds. Students’ well being will always be a priority.”

On January 4, Mehmood had said that the government will make no compromise on children’s health and another meeting will be held to review the latest coronavirus situation in the country.

The federal government had earlier announced a phase-wise plan to reopen educational institutes from January 18 which were closed on November 26 to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government has assured the parents that it will ensure strict compliance of COVID-19 SOPs in schools.

Coronavirus cases surge

Shafqat Mehmood’s remarks come as Pakistan battles a second wave of the coronavirus with cases constantly on the rise.

The country reported its biggest jump in coronavirus cases in nearly a month on Thursday.

Data issued by the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) showed that 3,097 people tested positive for COVID-19 across the country on January 13, raising the national tally to 511,921.

The last time Pakistan’s single-day tally crossed the 3,000 mark was on December 18 last year when NCOC reported 3,179 infections.

Find out more here: Pakistan records biggest jump in coronavirus cases in nearly a month

‘Schools will shut down if situation worsens’

Meanwhile, Punjab’s Minister for Education Murad Raas, during a visit to a university in Lahore, said that the schools and other educational institutes in the province would be shut down immediately if the situation necessitates.

He said that when schools do reopen, they would operate on 50% student attendance.