Winter vacations to start from January 3: NCOC

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) announced on Friday that winter vacations will start from January 3.

"During today’s NCOC session, it is decided that winter vacation in the education sector will start from 3rd January 22 apart from Fog / Smog hit districts of Pakistan," NCOC tweeted.

"Federating units will issue notifications accordingly."

Vacations in Punjab

Hours later, the Punjab government announced that winter vacations in all public and private educational institutions will start from December 23.

Taking to Twitter, Punjab’s Education Minister Dr Murad Raas said that all schools and colleges in the province will remain closed from December 23, 2021, to January 6, 2022.

He requested parents and eligible students to get vaccinated and follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the government.

Winter vacations to start from January: NCOC

Vacations in KPK

Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) government also announced a winter vacation schedule for all public and private schools and colleges across the province.

“In pursuance of the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) session dated 17 December, the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Elementary and Secondary Education Department is pleased to notify the schedule for winter vacations,” a notification issued by the provincial government’s Elementary and Secondary Education Department said.

It added that the winter vacation in plain areas will fall from January 3 to 12, 2022. In hilly regions, vacations will stretch from December 24 to February 28 2022.

On Tuesday, the Inter-provincial Education Ministers Conference had agreed on the proposal that educational institutions across the country would remain closed from December 25 to January 5.

According to an official statement, recommendations were sought by all provincial ministers regarding the winter break during the meeting. The centre and all the provinces, except Sindh, had agreed to grant winter vacations from December 25 to January 5.

A final decision is left on the NCOC, the statement added.

Last week, the Sindh government had announced winter holidays from December 20 to January 1, 2022.

The approval was given in the meeting of the Steering Committee on Education that met in Karachi, chaired by Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah.

Earlier, the recommendations for winter vacations were forwarded suggesting from December 20 to January 3.