Schools in nine Punjab districts including Lahore to remain closed till April 11

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) has decided to keep all educational institutions in nine districts of Punjab including Lahore closed till April 11.

This was announce by Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood on Wednesday after a meeting of the NCOC. He said that educational institutions in virus hotspots of Islamabad, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will remain closed till April 11.

He emphasized that that closure is for all form of educational institutions including universities as well as academies. He said the government will hold a meeting with the Cambridge exams board to see whether examinations can be postponed or not.

"By educational institutions, we mean all colleges, academies, universities and madrassas,” Shafqat Mahmood maintained.

Schools in different parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were closed from March 15 to March 28 because of a sharp rise in the number of coronavirus infections. Their closure has now been extended till the second week of April.

The schools will remain closed in the following districts of Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Lahore, Gujrat, Multan, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Muzaffarabad, Peshawar and Islamabad.

“We realise that closing schools will affect the education of students but health is our top priority.” The decision has been taken because of the third wave of the coronavirus, Mahmood while briefing the media about the decisions taken by the National Command and Operation Centre.

"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.”

He remarked that provincial governments can make the decision on keeping schools opened or closed depending on the number of infections.