Schools Closed: Is Pakistan Moving Towards a Complete Lockdown?

ISLAMABAD: All educational institutions across the country will remain shut from November 26 to January 10 amid the second wave of the novel coronavirus as the situation simmers towards a complete countrywide lockdown.

Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood was addressing the press conference at the National Operations and Command Center (NCOC) along with SAPM on Health Dr Faisal Sultan to brief about the decisions taken in the education ministers’ meeting.

Online education will continue until December 24 and onwards, there will be winter vacations until January 10.

The educational institutions across the country will reopen from January 11.

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However, the Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani suggested in the meeting that only primary schools having 73% enrollment must be closed while classes above Grade-VII should be continued.

Sindh’s minister also suggested holding the final decision to take intermediate exams in May and June and to reach a final decision as the situation developed.

Ghani also said that the private schools must be provided relief by the provision of easy loans and the interest on it must be paid by the federal government.

Is Pakistan heading towards a complete lockdown?

Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan hinted that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) gatherings were a source of coronavirus spread and the coalition would be responsible if a complete lockdown was imposed.

میں قطعاً لاک ڈاؤن جیسا قدم نہیں اٹھانا چاہتا کیونکہ ہماری معیشت جس میں ٹھوس بحالی کے آثار فی الحال بالکل نمایاں اور واضح ہیں، اسکی زد میں آئے گی۔ بدقسمتی سے حزب مخالف این آر او جیسے ہدف کے تعاقب میں ہے چاہے عوام کی زندگیوں سے لیکر ملکی معیشت تک اسکی جو بھی قیمت ہو۔

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 22, 2020

The closure of educational institutions across the country can be deemed as the first step towards a complete lockdown as the coronavirus cases surge across the country.

The number of active cases in the country has surged to 38,348 with 34 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.