The Inter-Provincial Education Ministers’ meeting on Wednesday reiterated that educational institutions across the country including Punjab will reopen on September 15.

Federal Education and Professional Training Minister Shafqat Mahmood chaired the meeting which was attended by provincial education ministers through video link. It is pertinent to mention that the government has already announced September 15 as tentative date for reopening of educational institutions across the country and has linked any possibility of delaying or reopening the institutions earlier with the Covid-19 situation.

Private schools associations, particularly All Pakistan Private Schools Association Federation (APPSF), have been demanding early reopening of the schools ie from August 15 claiming that besides academic loss to the students, the delay has been creating financial problems for the schools.

However, Punjab Minister for Schools Dr Murad Raas on various occasions made it clear that schools would reopen only once COVID-19 related situation improved in the province. Terming health and safety of the kids more important than education, he had categorically rejected the idea of reopening of schools amid COVID-19. Dr Murad Raas once again took to social media Wednesday and said all public and private schools of Punjab will reopen on September 15, 2020. “This is a tentative date depending on COVID-19 situation in Punjab. SOPs for opening of schools are in place which will be conveyed to everyone,” he wrote in his message.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/696855-campuses-will-reopen-countrywide-on-sept-15