Punjab Announces Decision On School Closures
The Punjab government has announced that all public and private primary schools in Lahore will be at 50% capacity from Thursday 20th January.
On Twitter, provincial education minister Murad Raas said that “tuition in all public and private schools will be staggered up to grade 6 from tomorrow January 20th to January 31st (50% of students per day).”
“Grades 7-12 will remain in the old schedule,” he added. The minister also urged students to follow the COVID SOPs.
The decision is in line with the coronavirus guidelines and SOPs issued by the National Operations Command Center (NCOC) today.
In its statement, the NCOC said classes for children under 12 will continue on a staggered basis in cities and neighborhoods where the positivity rate exceeds 10%. In addition, classes for fully vaccinated students aged 12 and over will continue as planned.
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In cities and counties with a positivity rate of up to 10 percent, classes will continue as usual but with strict COVID-19 protocols intact, he added.
“From February 1, at least one dose will be mandatory for students over the age of 12 and no exceptions will be accepted except for medical reasons,” the NCOC guidelines read.
“Aggressive educational sentinel testing is being conducted for targeted closures of educational institutions with high disease prevalence,” the forum added.
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