COVID-19: On-campus classes for grades 9-12 to begin from tomorrow in Punjab's affected districts

• Classes 9-12 will open tomorrow April 19th, 2021 with 50% students on Monday and 50% on Thursday.
  
• Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas announces on Twitter.
  
• The minister says a staggered approach will be implemented in order to mitigate the virus spread.

On-campus classes for classes 9-12 in coronavirus affected districts of Punjab will commence from tomorrow, April 19, with 50% attendance on separate days, provincial education minister Murad Raas announced on Sunday.

"Classes 9,10,11,12 will open tomorrow April 19th, 2021 with 50% students on Monday and 50% on Thursday," the minister said in a tweet.

The minister said that a staggered approach will be implemented in order to mitigate the virus spread.

He was referring to an earlier tweet in which Raas had announced the resumptions of classes for grades 9-12 in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Multan, Toba Tek Singh, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan. 

The minister had said the remaining districts would follow their regular schedule. 

Earlier in the day, Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood had announced important decisions taken during a meeting of the health and education ministers of all provinces earlier today.

He announced decisions taken during the special meeting with consensus.

Read more: Schools closure: On-campus classes from grades 1-8 will remain closed, says Shafqat Mehmood

The minister said classes of grades 9-12 will begin in affected districts in a staggered manner so students can prepare for their upcoming board exams.

"A special meeting of Health and Education Ministers of all provinces and AJK/GB was held today. The following decisions were taken with complete consensus. 1) Classes 9 to 12 would commence in affected districts in a staggered manner to allow students to prepare for Board exams," he tweeted.

As the minister had announced earlier, exams for classes 9-12 will take place according to the new dates announced by boards. He said this will not begin before the fourth week of May.