LAHORE (The Thursday Times) — Punjab’s education minister, Rana Sikandar Hayat, has said there will be no extra school holidays because of smog, dismissing messages on social media that claimed schools across the province were about to close.
The provincial government has taken no decision to extend school closures, the minister said, and all educational institutions will continue classes as usual.
He urged parents and students to ignore unverified messages and to rely only on official announcements from the Punjab School Education Department for any change to school timetables.
Why the rumours spread
The messages began circulating as smog thickened over Lahore and other Punjab cities this month. Lahore topped a global ranking of the world’s most polluted major cities earlier this week, with its air quality rated “very unhealthy”.
The haze has renewed questions about how the province protects children on bad-air days and what longer-term measures are needed to clean the city’s air, an issue The Thursday Times has argued cannot be left to a change in the wind.
For now, the minister’s message to families is that the school week goes on as normal, and that any closure would be announced through the department’s official channels.
