The Punjab government has extended winter holidays for educational institutions by one week after receiving strong public support through an online consultation exercise nationwide survey.
Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat announced that all schools and colleges across the province will now reopen on January 19 following public consultation process.
He said the decision followed a public survey conducted on his official social media page to seek citizen opinion regarding winter holidays extension decision provincewide.
According to the minister about 87 percent respondents supported reopening institutions on January 19 while 13 percent preferred reopening on January 12 during online poll.
Later the minister said the decision considered a prolonged winter spell and extremely low temperatures expected next week on advice of PDMA authorities concerned formally.
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Poll results shared showed that 154178 people voted for reopening on January 19 compared with 24829 supporting January 12 option in public voting exercise online.
The minister said the extension was approved due to prevailing weather conditions and stressed that students health and wellbeing remained top priority for provincial government.
He directed chief executive officers of education departments to ensure strict implementation across districts to avoid confusion among parents teachers students throughout Punjab province uniformly.
The announcement followed earlier dismissal of viral reports claiming holiday extensions when the minister had said institutions would reopen January 12 as planned officially stated.
He had clarified no official notification was issued and said the circulating notice was fake emphasising no academic calendar changes were approved previously by department.
