LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) nullified the decision of National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) to hold winter vacations in educational institutions from last week of January and ordered closure of schools from December 23 to January 04 after a law officer expressed willingness of the government to close the schools.

The court proceeding with the smog cases on Friday said that the decision of closure of schools has been taken considering the hazardous effects of smog in the city. The court observed that the decision will help in the reduction of the effects of smog and adjourned the hearing on the petitions till next week.

Earlier a law officer informed the court that the government is ready to close the educational institutions from December 23 and said a notification in this regard will be issued soon.

In the meantime, the provincial education minister in his twitter message has announced that the educational institutions in Punjab will remain close from December 23 to January 04. The court had ordered the government to reconsider its decision of closing schools from December 20 as there were rising concerns over smog.

It is to be mentioned here that the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday had decided to hold winter vacations in educational institutions from last week of January 2022.

All provincial and federal education ministries had decided to hold winter vacations in educational institutions from December 25 to January 05. However, final decision in this regard was to be taken by the NCOC.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021