ISLAMABAD: A conference of federal and provincial secretaries on Tuesday decided that winter vacations would begin on Dec 25 and end on Jan 4.

“Federal and provincial secretaries met today. The agreed proposal was that winter holidays should be from Dec 25 to Jan 4. Further notifications will be made by the governments concerned,” federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood tweeted on Tuesday.

The conference, chaired by federal education secretary Naheed S. Durrani and virtually attended by all education secretaries of the provinces, urged all provinces and textbook boards to ensure publication of the country’s new political map.

Before the tweet of the federal education minister, a press release issued by the education ministry had said that issue of winter vacations would be decided after a meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre which would be held on Wednesday.

However, the federal education minister announced that winter vacations would begin from Dec 25.

Sindh government has already announced winter vacations in all educational institutions in the province from Dec 20 to January 3.

The PTI government had on August 4 last year unveiled the country’s new political map, essentially asserting its longstanding position on Kashmir and Sir Creek disputes.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, while introducing the map at a ceremony, had said the map reflected the national aspirations and supported the principled stance on the Kashmir dispute.

The new map was made public a day before Pakistan observed the first anniversary of annexation of occupied Kashmir.

India annexed the held territory on August 5, 2019, by revoking articles 370 and 35A of its constitution, which had provided special status to occupied Kashmir and rights and privileges to Kashmiris.

The map clearly identifies occupied Kashmir as a “disputed territory” and states that the final status will be decided in line with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2021