ISLAMABAD– Schools located in corona virus hot spot areas of Pakistan will remain closed till April 11, Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood announced Wednesday.
He was addressing the press conference after an important meeting of education and health ministers at the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) to decide on the closure of schools amid an alarming rise of coronavirus cases in the country.
The number of COVID-19 active cases has doubled in the last three weeks while the positivity ratio has remained above 8% in the last few days. According to the NCOC data, the number of active cases was 17,352 on March 6 which reached 36,849 on Wednesday.
Mehmood said the government will hold a meeting with the Cambridge exams board to see whether examinations can be postponed or not. Board examinations of classes nine to 12 will be held as per the timetable, he said.
We have seen that the number of cases in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir has increased, he said. “The number of infections is relatively less in Sindh, Balochistan and Gilgit-Balochistan,” Mehmood said.
The education minister said keeping in view the coronavirus situation, the provincial governments will decide the districts where educational institutions will remain closed.
Mehmood said the government is cognizant of the fact that the closure of educational institutions is affecting the education of children. However, he said the health of children is priority.
The federal minister said that the next meeting of the education and health ministers will be held on April 7 to review the whole situation.
