ISLAMABAD: Like other parts of the country, educational institutions of the capital opened their doors to students of primary and middle classes on Monday after remaining closed for over two months.

Classes ninth to 12 had resumed last month whereas grades one till eight along with universities started on Monday.

“Schools and colleges have formally started imparting education from Monday. Today, the attendance remained low, but majority of the institutions followed standard operating procedures (SOPs) and no major violation was reported,” said Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) Director Abdul Waheed, adding that institutions had been asked to strictly follow SOPs to avoid spread of Covid-19 as health was the primary concern of the directorate.

All area education officers remained in the field to monitor implementation of SOPs. In all schools, he said, where strength was over 25 in each classroom, classes will be held on alternate days.

Meanwhile, an official from the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (Peira) said no major complaints were reported from private schools, adding that government teams had conducted Covid-19 tests. Two Covid-19 positive cases were reported today.

It is relevant to note here that this year, the government has decided to start the academic session in August instead of April to provide extra time to students to cover their course work. FDE has already decided to extend the ongoing academic session till July instead of March with new classes commencing from Aug 2.

An FDE notification said that summer break this year will begin from July 2 and continue till July 31, adding that the centralised annual examinations for classes five to eight will be held between May 18 and May 31. While, in-house annual exams for classes one to seven will be held from June and new classes in all 423 educational institutions will begin from Aug 2.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2021