The Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training Wednesday announced that a meeting of the provincial education ministers will be held today (Thursday) to debate whether the prevalent COVID-19 situation in the country warrants the closure of schools, reported 24NewsHD TV channel .

According to a notification issued in this regard, the 34th meeting of the Provincial Education Minister's Conference (IPEMC) is scheduled to be held at 11am on Thursday, chaired by Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood, to deliberate on a number of issues.

Among these is a review of the prevalent COVID situation in the country with respect to educational institutes.

Other issues to be discussed during the meeting include:

Interprovincial consultation for timely provision of quality textbooks in the academic year 2022

Interprovincial coordination regarding the timely provision of NOCs for textbooks

Any other agenda with the permission of the chair.

It is pertinent to mention here that the meeting will be held through video conference.

On Tuesday, while briefing the media of the decisions taken by the federal cabinet in its weekly meeting, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry had said Pakistan would not undergo another lockdown and dismissed reports of the closure of schools despite rising coronavirus cases.

The information minister had said the federal cabinet was informed that the COVID-19 positivity ratio had doubled in the country. "But despite this, it is our resolve that we absolutely not impose a lockdown in Pakistan. Our economy cannot bear the burden [of another lockdown]," he said.

However, a sharp rise in cases continues to be reported by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), with today's tally at 2,074 for cases in the last 24 hours. This is the highest caseload since September 24, 2021 — more than three months ago. The national positivity ratio has now reached 4.70% and overall infections have jumped past 1.309 million.