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ISLAMABAD: The government has ordered the closure of all school and educational institutes in coronavirus hotspot areas till April 11.
This was announced by Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood after a meeting of provincial and educational ministers at the National Control and Command Centre (NCOC) to decide on the closure of schools amid an alarming rise in coronavirus cases in the country.
He said there has been increasing in the number of cases witnessed in several districts of Punjab including Lahore. He said there has also been a steady rise coronavirus cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Therefore, he said it has been decided to close all educational institutes till April 11, 2021.
The minister said the examinations for Class 9 and 12 will be held in the last week of May and June as scheduled. He said the government will hold a meeting with the Cambridge exams board whether the examinations can be postponed.
He said the number of cases in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir has increased while the number of infections is relatively less in Sindh, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan. However, the decision to close down school will be taken by the provincial government.
Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas said it has been decided to close down all public and private schools in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Multan, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Sargoda, Sheikhupura will till April 11th, 2021. However, the remaining districts will be open on previous schedule.
On March 10, the federal government had announced a two-week Spring Break in Islamabad, Peshawar and seven Punjab cities where the positivity was high and imposed restrictions to control the spread.
