(mnm.com.pk) The All Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges Association has decided to protest against the government's decision to close educational institutions.
On Friday, Malik Abrar, president of the association, said private schools had rejected the NCOC's decision. "Hundreds of students are out of school due to school closures, while thousands of teachers have lost their jobs."
"Parks, shopping malls and shops are open but how appropriate is it to have a school nearby?" Abrar questioned, adding that Mahmoud had easily ignored the union's demands.
"The government wants to get funds by closing down educational institutions," he said, adding that if their demands were not met, the association would march on March 31 at D-Chowk in Islamabad.
The president warned that "the protests will start in the capital and then spread across the country."
Schools in different parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remained closed from March 15 to March 28 due to a sharp rise in the number of corona virus infections. Their closure has now been extended to the second week of April.
In the last 24 hours, more than 4,300 cases of coronavirus have been reported across the country, with 63 people losing their lives.
Pakistani schools and corona virus
All educational institutions in the country were closed at the end of February 2020 due to an increase in cases of corona virus. They were reopened in stages starting September 15, 2020.
On November 23, 2020, following the second wave of coronavirus cases in the country, the government announced that all educational institutions would be closed again on November 26, 2020.
Classes were taken online until December 24, 2020, and the winter holidays began on December 25, 2020, and lasted until January 10. The government said it would hold a meeting on January 4 to review the decision to reopen the schools.
The NCOC then decided that the schools would reopen in the first phase of classes from June 9 to 12, with the first reopening on January 18.
On March 10, the government closed schools in Punjab, Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for two weeks in the wake of the third wave of coronavirus.
