The Punjab government on Saturday announced updated school timings for all government schools in the province. Sharing a copy of the notification, Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas wrote on Twitter: “The attached notification has the timings for all public day shift schools and Insaf afternoon schools of Punjab.” “Please follow SOPs issued by the government,” he urged. According to the notification, boys’ school hours will be from 8:45am to 2.30pm. Meanwhile, the timings for girls schools will be from 8:30am to 2:15pm. The notification added that schools operating double shifts will remain open from 8:30am to 5pm. The timings of students studying in the first shift will be from 8:30am to 12:30pm while for the second shift the school will remain open from 1pm to 5pm. On Friday, all single-shift schools will commence classes from 8:30am to 12pm. Meanwhile, the timings for double shift schools will be 8:30am to 12pm (first shift) and 2:30pm to 5:30pm(second shift). A day earlier, the Punjab government announced the resumption of regular classes from October 11 at all private and public schools. “No more staggered approach. Welcome back to the previous routine,” Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas tweeted. The minister also urged everyone to follow the government-mandated SOPs to curb the spread of COVID-19. The provincial education minister made the announcement after the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) permitted educational institutes to resume normal classes from Monday amid what they said was a decline in virus cases. The NCOC took the decision after a review of the pandemic situation in a meeting held on Thursday. The forum agreed to reopen educational institutes based on a reduced level of disease spread and the launch of the school vaccination programme, Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said in a tweet.