Coronavirus: Will the academic year in Punjab be extended?

• Education minister across Pakistan will be meeting in the first week of January to figure out the next step for schools
• Punjab Schools Education Minister Dr Murad Raas gives details about what will be discussed in the meeting

LAHORE: The academic year for schools in Punjab may be extended because of the two long closures of educational institutions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

This was said by Punjab Schools Education Minister Dr Murad Raas Friday. 

A final decision on the reopening of schools, he said, will be taken in the first week of January 2021. The Inter Provincial Education Ministers Conference last month had decided to shut all the educational institutes due to the worsening situation of the pandemic. 

Dr Raas spoke to the media after the inauguration of Digital Continuous Professional Development – an online training programme for school teachers. 

Read more about the situation of education in Pakistan amid the coronavirus pandemic

The provincial minister wasn't in favour of schools closing down, but he said "tough" decisions had to be made because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

All education minister in Pakistan will be having a meeting in the first week of January next year to assess the situation.

On a question about the possibility of opening schools on alternate days, Dr Raas said the government doesn't have the manpower to monitor such a mechanism in over 60,000 private schools across the province.

What is the Single National Curriculum? 

On Thursday, the Punjab Cabinet approved a new framework for all schools called the Single National Curriculum.

He explained that this curriculum doesn't mean a single textbook will be used. Dr Raas said textbooks can differ under this new framework, but the structure will have to be followed at all costs.

All textbooks, he said, will be approved by the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board.