Tag: Shafqat Mehmood

  • Asim Azhar, Hadiqa Kiani, Shaan urge Shafqat Mahmood to give relief to students

    Asim Azhar, Hadiqa Kiani, Shaan urge Shafqat Mahmood to give relief to students

    Asim Azhar, Hadiqa Kiani and Shaan have requested Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood to postpone the upcoming papers and give students and their parents some relief.

    “Please think of our children,” said Kiani. “We must find an alternative plan that doesn’t put them in danger.”

    She added that she “an advocate for education” and prays that he son goes on and achieves a PhD.

    “But this is just not the way,” said the singer.

    Similarly, Azhar said: “Sir, it would be unfair to hold exams in such circumstances! Please find a solution.”

    The singer further said: “Students have really been disturbed due to the ongoing pandemic causing the institutes to close and open again and again.”

    “I personally know some students that haven’t been able to complete their syllabuses as well,” he asserted.

    Addressing students, Asim said that he understands their pain because if he wasn’t a full-time musician, he would also be going through the same stress.

    “I understand your stress and pain guys. Agar abhi music nahi kar raha hota tou mai bhi ro raha hota exams ko leke iss waqt.. so I understand,” said Asim, adding: “I am sure Shafqat Mahmood will stand with the youth and find the best solution possible.”

    Shaan, on the other hand, brought up another issue, saying: “Honourable minister must give relief to parents who are suffering from not just the pandemic but the private school mafias as well.”

    “Change was your slogan and patience is all we have till now,” he added.

    The veteran actor further said: “Elm bohat bari dolat Hai… agar yaqeen na aye to private school kai malikaan sai pooch lain.”

    Demanding teacher-assessed grades, dozens of students of the Cambridge International Education (CIE) system staged a protest outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on April 2 against the O’ and A’ Level examinations scheduled to be held in April and May. Multiple protests also took place across the country against the exams, including one in Lahore.

    After studying online for the whole year, the protesting students said that they would not appear for tests in classrooms. The students and their parents demanded the federal government to cancel the CIE examinations in light of the pandemic and asked for marking to be done on the basis of teacher-assessed grades.

    However, Mahmood on Tuesday announced that examinations across the country will be held from the third week of May, adding that Cambridge exams will be held as per schedule.

    “Decisions regarding exams are final,” said Mahmood. “Students should start preparing and working hard.”

    Meanwhile, A-level exams are scheduled at the end of April, while the O-level exams are slated to begin on May 10.

  • ‘In-person classes in schools for Grades 1-8 to be suspended till April 28’

    ‘In-person classes in schools for Grades 1-8 to be suspended till April 28’

    Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood on Tuesday announced that there will be no on-campus classes for Grades 1 to 8 in areas affected by coronavirus till April 28.

    The minister made the announcement while addressing the media after a meeting of the National Command and Control Centre (NCOC) that reviewed the opening of the country’s educational institutions. Besides this, the meeting also discussed the schedule for exams including those for Grades 9, 10 and 11 as well as those for O’ and A’ Levels.

    “During today’s meeting it was decided that classes for grade 1 to 8 will not be held in districts that are affected [by Covid-19] and this will go on till April 28,” said the minister.

    Punjab Minister for Education Dr Murad Raas informed that 13 districts have been affected by the virus and therefore no on-campus classes will take place in these areas for grade 1 to 8 students. The minister added that this decision will be reviewed again in the last week of April, when the NCOC will decide on whether or not to close down educational institutions till Eid.

    The minister also said that classes for grade 9, 10, 11 and 12 will be allowed to continue with strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) from April 19 so that students can finish the syllabus and be prepared for their exams.

    He added, however, that universities in affected districts will remain closed and classes will shift online.

    “Otherwise, universities will function as per usual,” he said.

    Later, Mahmood also asserted that “decisions regarding [the] exams are final,” and told students to start preparing and working hard.

    “This decision will not be changed so no one should have any uncertainty in their mind,” added the minister.

  • COVID-19: Schools in hotspot areas to stay closed till April 11

    COVID-19: Schools in hotspot areas to stay closed till April 11

    Schools located in COVID-19 hotspot areas will remain closed till April 11, Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood has announced.

    Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, after an important meeting of education and health ministers at the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), Mahmood said that the number of active COVID-19 cases have doubled in the last three weeks while the positivity ratio has crossed 8%.

    Mahmood further said the government will discuss this with the Cambridge exams board to see whether CIE examinations can be postponed or not.

    “We have seen that the number of cases in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir has increased,” said Mahmood, adding: “The number of infections is relatively less in Sindh, Balochistan and Gilgit-Balochistan.”

    Pakistan has reported 637,042 cases and 13,965 deaths so far. 3,301 cases and 30 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours.

    Number of cases recorded in different provinces in the last 24 hours are:

  • Government demands resignation of Chief Election Commissioner

    Seeking disbanding of the election watchdog, the ruling party has called on the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to resign for “failing to hold the recently-held Senate elections in a transparent manner”.

    “It was a longstanding demand of the prime minister that the power of money should not be used to influence elections,” said Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood while addressing a press conference alongside Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz and Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry.

    “For this purpose, the premier wanted the Senate elections to be held via an open ballot.”

    Mahmood said it is the sole responsibility of the ECP to ensure transparent polls are held. He said that the government had told the ECP to implement a system wherein it would not be possible for corrupt practices to take place.

    The minister called on the election commission to be disbanded, alleging that it had failed to meet up to the standards required of it.

    “To ensure transparent elections are held is the responsibility of the election commission. This responsibility was not fulfilled,” he said. “The election commission failed to act as a neutral umpire hence it should resign,” added Mahmood.

    Explaining the government’s demand for the ECP to be disbanded, Mahmood said the PTI was the most popular political party in the country yet it did not have confidence in the ECP. He claimed the ruling party was not the only one which didn’t trust the ECP.

    Earlier, Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari had also taken a dig at the CEC, saying: “It is unfortunate that he is increasingly creating a partisan image of the ECP which erodes its credibility as well as [the] credibility of future elections under its supervision.”

    The minister had alleged that the CEC was partial and added that “instead of supporting PM & PTI’s demand for open ballot to ensure transparency in Senate elections, PDM’s opportunism & CEC’s partisan approach prevented fair, free and transparent Senate elections”.

    “CEC must take prime responsibility for this sorry state of electoral affairs.”

  • Shafqat Mahmood memes light up the internet once again

    Shafqat Mahmood memes light up the internet once again

    Shafqat Mahmood memes have struck the internet once again after the minister announced on Wednesday that schools in Punjab and other parts of the country will remain closed from March 15 till 28.

    Delighted, hundreds of students across the country took to Twitter to post memes. Most thanked the minister for taking the decision while a few opposed the decision and some made good fun out of it.

    Here are a few memes doing rounds on the internet:

    https://twitter.com/zaynanxari/status/1369561848887054336?s=20
    https://twitter.com/TrimiziiiSyeda/status/1369565129642303491?s=20
    https://twitter.com/MIANALI91079867/status/1369647620688388097?s=20

    https://twitter.com/Ahmadfaraz_10/status/1369638014020943875?s=20

    https://twitter.com/Muqadas_pervaiz/status/1369648960122597379?s=20

    https://twitter.com/junaidhashmi32/status/1369630810077339648?s=20

    Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood on Wednesday announced the closure of schools in several cities from Monday, March 15 following a spike in coronavirus cases.

    Speaking to the media after a meeting at the National Command and Operations (NCOC), the federal minister said educational institutes would be closed in Islamabad and other Punjab cities from Monday for two weeks.

    The SAPM on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said a decision had also been taken to extend a ban on indoor activities and reimpose the 50% work-from-home policy. The implementation of the work from home policy has been left to the discretion of the provinces, but will go into effect in Islamabad immediately.

    Meanwhile, he made it clear in his another tweet that all send ups and exams being currently conducted will continue under proper SOPs.

    Earlier, in an exclusive interview with The Current, Shafqat revealed which memes were his favourite.

  • Surge in COVID cases: Educational institutions to close down in at least 7 cities

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan and Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood, in a press conference, have announced that educational institutes in Punjab will remain closed from March 15 to 28. The decision was taken after a meeting of the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) to review the situation of coronavirus in the country.

    The government officials said that educational institutes in Punjab will remain closed from March 15 to March 28 to contain the spread of Covid-19, adding that spring break will begin in seven districts of Punjab, including Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Lahore, Gujrat, Multan, Rawalpindi and Sialkot. Mahmood said the same decision will also apply to educational institutions in Islamabad, Muzaffarabad and Peshawar.

    However, the decision of the closure of the schools will not be applicable to schools that are already conducting examinations.

    Educational institutions in Sindh and Balochistan would continue with 50 percent attendance every day.

    Earlier today, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar presided over the NCOC meeting. To contain the spread of the virus the in the country, the following decisions have been taken:

    • Strict compliance of Mask Wearing will continue across the board.
    • SLDs / Micro SLDs will continue to be imposed based on the disease prevalence / hotspots.
    • 50% work from home policy will be implemented on the discretion of federating units. However, it will be enforced in ICT with immediate effect.
    • Time limit of 10:00 PM on all commercial activities will be re-enforced with immediate effect, less essential services.
    • Amusement Parks across the country will be closed at 6:00 PM..
    • Earlier decision of allowing indoor weddings, indoor dining and opening of cinemas and shrines with effect from March 15, 2021 has been withdrawn. However, outdoor dining / take away will continue to remain open as per previous practice.
    • Outdoor gatherings will continue to remain limited to a maximum of 300 individuals with strict enforcement of COVID -19 SOPs.
    • Review of all enforced  non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) will be carried out on April 12, 2021.

    The above-mentioned decisions regarding non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) are the baseline decisions. Federating units are at liberty to impose stricter NPIs in selected cities/districts keeping in view the local disease trend/ spread.

  • ‘Bewafa’: Students react to Shafqat Mahmood announcing schools to open from March 1

    ‘Bewafa’: Students react to Shafqat Mahmood announcing schools to open from March 1

    Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood has once again given ‘memers’ a chance to show off their skills. Breaking the hearts of a lot of Pakistani students, the ‘Bewafa‘ minister announced that schools will be resuming from March 1.

    Following the announcement, social media was filled with memes with students expressing their heartbreak and sadness over the decision.   

    https://twitter.com/MemebyPutin/status/1364824875110645764?s=20

    Read more – Sarfaraz vs Hafeez memes break the internet

    https://twitter.com/PakistanAug1947/status/1364871706012246017?s=20

  • ‘Please Abu ko kahen schools band kardein’: Students request Tara Mahmood to convince Shafqat Mahmood

    ‘Please Abu ko kahen schools band kardein’: Students request Tara Mahmood to convince Shafqat Mahmood

    Ever since students discovered that Suno Chanda’s Masooma aka Tara Mahmood is Minister of Education Shafqat Mahmood’s daughter, her social media has been flooded with requests and appeals from students who are asking the actor to convince her father to close schools. The government had announced that schools and universities will reopen in three phases from January 18.

    Read more – Memes break the internet after Shafqat Mahmood announces reopening of schools

    “Ma’am please apnay Baba say kahen keh humaray papers online kar dein,” “Please colleges aur schools band karwa dein Abba ko keh kar” are just some of the messages the actor has been receiving on social media. Some have even commented that they are sure Shafqat will listen to her because “betiyon ki baat baap nahi taaltay”.

    While Tara has not yet responded to the comments, earlier while responding to a social media user, she had said: “Schools shut for long will harm many students who don’t have access to online education.”

    “As a minister, he has to think about everyone in this country. And there are people out there dying for educational institutes to open. Hang in there and protect yourself by wearing a mask. Trust me, nothing will happen,” she added.

    Earlier, in an exclusive interview with The Current, Shafqat had said that closing schools and universities late last year was a “difficult decision”.

    “I think children don’t want to go to school,” the minister had said. “But seriously it was a difficult decision to close schools, colleges and universities. InshAllah as soon as the situation gets better, we will open them again.”

    Shafqat Mahmood has three daughters, two of who are twins. The actor has often shared pictures of her family on social media.

  • Memes break the internet after Shafqat Mahmood announces reopening of schools

    Memes break the internet after Shafqat Mahmood announces reopening of schools

    Amid the second wave of coronavirus, the government has decided to open educational institutions in phases from January 18.

    Soon after the news was announced, memes started doing rounds on social media adding to the popularity of Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood.

    Mahmood’s memes also went viral earlier after he announced that educational institutions would be closed till January 11 due to rising COVID-19 cases. In an exclusive interview with The Current, the minister talked about the memes and which ones were his favourite.

  • ‘Revise your course, do homework, these aren’t holidays,’ Shafqat Mahmood to students

    Pakistan’s educational institutions had to be closed down because coronavirus infections were rising very fast, Federal education Minister Shafqat Mahmood tweeted Tuesday morning.

    He said it was done with a heavy heart, Geo reported.

    “I request all students to use this time not as a holiday but to revise their courses, do homework,” he said.

    The federal education minister asked students to continue with their studies “as much as possible”.

    Mahmood had made similar remarks last week while talking to Geo Pakistan. He had said the decision to close down educational institutes was taken due to non-compliance with government-issued coronavirus SOPs.

    “The SOPs were not being followed as they should have been,” he had said, adding that health department data showed rapid virus transmission in education institutes.

    Stressing that children’s health cannot be taken lightly, Mahmood said there were around 50 million students across the country i.e. one-fourth of our population. “They can become carriers. So it was necessary to shut down schools.”