The Punjab government has announced that summer vacations for all schools in the province will be from the July 1 till August 1.

Punjab's Minister for Education Murad Raas announced via Twitter that "Summer vacation for Schools of Punjab to start July 1st, 2021 till August 1st, 2021".

"In these times of vacation, my request to all the children and their families is to follow SOPs issued by the government," said Raas.

Considering the intensity of the heat wave which has swept across the province, the Punjab government was considering an early closure of all educational institutes.

The provincial government already changed the timings of all public and private schools from 7:00AM to 11:30AM, but was adamant to avoid another postponement of major examinations.

"Let them give exams and we will give them vacations. It is wrong to promote students without examinations for two consecutive years," Raas mentioned last week in a press conference, adding that the curriculum has been reduced to ease any unforeseen burden on students.

This decision comes as the new Delta strain of Covid-19 poses risks of a fourth-wave of the pandemic across the globe.

A final decision on the matter was taken by the Inter-Provincial Education Conference (IPEC) headed by Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood.