LAHORE: The examinations of educational institutions would neither be postponed nor would be cancelled, Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood announced on Saturday.
Talking to media persons at the launching ceremony of five Urdu and English poetry books by Farzana Aqib at Al-Hamra Arts Council, he advised the students to continue with their studies because their examinations would not be postponed or canceled.
“No any student will be given grade without taking his or her respective examination this year. The 9th, 10th and intermediate examinations are about to start in a few days, therefore I advise the students to focus on their studies as no exam will be postponed or cancelled,”
“Exams of A2 Level have already taken place and now exams of [classes] 9, 10, 11, 12 are about to take place in the coming few days. I am telling students: continue your studies because exams will neither be postponed nor cancelled,” he added.
Federal Minister mentioned that conducting educational examinations was the unanimous decision of all the provinces and the examinations would be held in accordance with the schedules announced by the educational boards.
Regarding summer vacations, he said that this matter had been given to provinces to decide about. Where the school could be opened then educational activities could continue, however,
it would not be suitable to open educational institutions where there were bad weather conditions, he maintained. “We have to make up for the loss of children’s education as well,” he added.
The minister said that education had been “badly affected” because of the closure of schools, adding: “Schools should be kept open as far as it is possible in view of the weather and keeping in view the coronavirus situation.
“The teaching that can be done in classrooms cannot be done anywhere else. A lot of the course has to be covered and the deficiency has to be overcome. That is why we have left it to the provinces and private schools to do what they think is appropriate,” Mehmood said.
To a question about setting up summer camps for children in private schools, he said that provinces would decide it, asserting that the education of children had already been hampered.
Earlier, Federal Education Minister attended the books launching ceremony as chief guest. He appreciated the work and efforts of the author Farzana Aqib and said that intellectual community was the great asset of a society, because they guide the people to the light of knowledge.
The books included: ‘Mohabat ki bhala kab umar hoti hay’; ‘Tumharay sath phir ji lein gey’; ‘Caramel Sunset’; ‘Blue Monday of Love’; and ‘I don’t wright life right itself’. The ceremony was also attended by former cricketer Aqib Javed, and literature and poetry lovers.
