'Govt to reopen schools, universities on Sep 15 only if health situation improves'

ISLAMABAD: All education institutions, including universities, will reopen on September 15 if the coronavirus situation of the country improves, said Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood on Thursday. 

The minister said that the government will review its decision in an inter-provincial meeting in the last week of August.

Mahmood said that it had been decided to allow schools to call its administration staff before September 15 and announced that trainings will be conducted to ensure that SOPs are implemented. 

He said that provinces will be responsible for ensuring SOPs that are followed, cautioning schools to follow the procedures laid out by the government. "It is my request to private schools, especially, that the SOPs that you will have to follow will be the ones made by the government," he said. 

The minister said that universities had recommended to the government that PhD students be allowed in a limited quantity. "How they manage this, we leave it up to them," he said. 

He said problems were faced by students in some areas where there was a lack of internet facilities.

Mahmood said that educational institutions had requested the government to allow examinations to be held. "We have received suggestions to allow exams for medical students and for university admission test to be held," he said. 

The minister announced that the government will relax some restrictions imposed on important exams and admission tests as well. 

He said that the government was permitting universities to admit students into hostels at 30% capacity. Mahmood said that this will be subject to "health checks", including tests and temperature checks, strictly ensured by universities. 

Geo News had reported on Wednesday that the government had decided to reopen educational institutions beginning September. The decision was made in a meeting presided by Mahmood along with the provincial education ministers.

Sources had told Geo News that the meeting decided to reopen schools with all the COVID-19 SOPs in place. “Schools will be reopened after taking a look at the coronavirus situation in the country. The final decision to reopen schools will be taken by the National Command and Control Centre,” sources added.

Last month, Mahmood had said the government was considering opening schools with the implementation of SOPs and suggestions had been sought from the madressahs and private institutes of all provinces, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.