The Inter-provincial Education Ministers conference decided on Monday to reopen educational institutions from January 18.

Addressing a press conference, Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood announced that in the first phase, classes nine to 12 would be allowed to resume from January 18. In the second phase, the minister said, primary to class 8 will resume on January 25.

Whereas higher education institutions; universities and colleges will reopen on February 1, Mahmood said. The education minister further said that online classes can resume from January 11.

He added that teachers and administrative staff would also be allowed to come back to schools from January 11 after the winter vacations were over. He also announced that board exams scheduled for March and April were postponed to May and June.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan also addressed the presser and said that after looking at data and analyzing it, it became clear that we need to take some more COVID-19 precautions and delay reopening schools.

Sultan said that data showed that closing the educational institutions earlier had led to a delay in the spread of the novel virus.

On November 23, the government had announced to close educational institutions across the country amid the second wave of the coronavirus.