Educational institutions to reopen from September 15: Minister

ISLAMABAD: Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood has announced to reopen the educational institutions from 15th September.

Addressing a press conference, the federal minister has been decided that all educational institutions will reopen on 15th September with strict Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), including schools, colleges, and universities.

The government has agreed on the reopening of education institutes in September after five months, however, there will be a mechanism in place, defining children’s movement and seating arrangements in schools.

He said the federal government will formulate SOPs and share them with the provincial governments who will be authorised to close institutions not observing the safety precations.

The minister said the government will review the situation about the spread of coronavirus and implementation of the SOPs in the first week of September.

He said the educational institutions can open their administrative offices and call teachers before reopening of the institutions and practice the SOPs.

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He said universities can permit their Ph.D students to do research at the laboratories in limited numbers. He said universities can also allow students to reside at the hostels with maximum 30 percent occupancy from August.

The minister said institutions can conduct examinations spanning maximum four days from the second week of July.

According to Shafqat Mehmood, the dates can be changed with respect to the intensity of coronavirus pandemic. The schools were suddenly closed at the end of March by the federal government due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country.