National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Tuesday decided to go ahead with the second phase of the reopening of educational institutions and reopen schools for grade six to eight students.

The NCOC in its declaration stated that the academic sessions of secondary students from Class VI to Class VIII will be resumed across the country from September 23 (tomorrow).

It added that the schools will be reopened in the second phase as per the scheduled announced by the NCOC for resuming academic activities in the educational institutions.

According to details, the NCOC meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar was held in the federal capital to review the coronavirus situation after the reopening of schools in the country. Officials of the Ministry of Education informed the meeting that strict implementation of SOPs in being ensured in all educational institutions and they are ready for the second phase.

Meanwhile, Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas announced all public and private schools will be allowed to resume classes 6 through 8 from September 23.

Moreover, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Education Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai also announced to reopen all government and private schools across the province

On the other side, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani announced that the academic sessions of Class 6 to 8 will not be resumed in schools across the province as negligence was seen in many educational institutions in the implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) against the coronavirus pandemic.

He, however, said that the decision to postpone schools’ reopening for the secondary student was made for only one week. Ghani added that the provincial authorities will permit schools to resume secondary-level classes from September 28 if the situation remains better.