Private schools, teachers vow to resist closure of institutions.

LAHORE -- The All Pakistan Private Schools Federation and the Punjab Teachers Union (PTU) on Thursday opposed the government decision to postpone board examinations and closure of all educational institutions in the country till July 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Most public and private institutions continue online education during the closure of campuses.

Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood said all schools, universities and other educational institutions would remain closed till July 15. He was addressing the nation alongside Prime Minister Imran Khan and said that all board examinations were cancelled.

'We will pass or fail students on the basis of their results of the previous year,' he announced and said the students' health and their education could not be compromised.

Meanwhile, Punjab Minister for School Education Murad Raas also tweeted about closure of the public and private schools in the province.

'Announcement: All Public and Private Schools will remain closed till July 15, 2020, in Punjab due to Corona Virus. The lives of our children, teachers and their families are priority # 1. Details of promotion to next classes and board exams will be explained in the Notification.'

In a press release, the minister said the government had closed educational institutions for another 45 days till July 15 and the step was taken for the health of teachers and students. He said all the examinations were cancelled and soon they would issue a notification to elaborate promotion mechanism for next classes.

The PTU office-bearers soon after the announcement issued a press release stating that the government should revise/ rethink its decision of cancellation of board examinations and closure of schools till July 15.

PTU president Chaudhry Sarfraz, Sajjad Akbar Kazmi, Rana Liaquat, Rana Altaf, Rana Anwar and Abdul Qayum Rahi said cancelling the board examinations was an inappropriate decision and it would leave bad effect on the education sector.

They said they could understand that grade 1 to 8 students could be promoted to next classes but they were unable to understand how grade-9 students could be promoted to...