The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) announced on Friday that winter vacations in educational institutions will start from January 3, 2022, except in areas with extreme weather conditions or smog.

Read more: NCOC shifts winter vacations to January in educational institutions: sources

Federating units, continued the body which oversees the government’s pandemic response on Twitter, will issue notifications for the season’s holiday schedule accordingly.

During today’s NCOC session, it is decided that Winter vacation in education sector will start from 3rd January 22 apart from Fog / Smog hit districts of Pakistan. Federating units will issue notifications accordingly.

Advertisement

— NCOC (@OfficialNcoc) December 17, 2021

The Punjab government on Friday also agreed before the Lahore High Court (LHC) to close the educational institutions from December 23, a day after the court expressed concern over smog in Lahore.

The Sindh government has already announced winter vacations in all educational institutions of the province from December 20 to January 3.

Confusion over winter vacations recently surfaced after the NCOC, and the ministry of education appeared to have differences over when they must commence amid changing Covid-19 situation in the country, insufficient vaccination of students and smog in Punjab.

On December 4, Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood had announced that the winter vacations for schools would start from December 25 till January 4.

Read more: Winter vacations to start from December 25, announces Shafqat Mahmood 

However, a day later, it was learnt that the NCOC had decided to shift winter vacations to January from December in all educational institutions across the country.