Claim: A top education officer has issued a ban on co-education in Chakwal schools.
Fact: The claim is misleading. The Deputy District Education Officer (M-EE) for Chakwal did issue a notification on the “prohibition of co-education in government schools at elementary level” in Chakwal but this notification was cancelled by the DC Office Chakwal shortly afterward, prior to the article being published.
On 26 December 2021 at 10:00 AM, a Facebook page Startup Pakistan shared a story posted to its website regarding a notification (no 1729) banning co-education in Chakwal schools issued on 21 December by the Deputy District Education Officer (M-EE) for Chakwal. The same misleading news was also posted here, here, and here at 12:36 PM, 7:30 pm and 12:33 PM respectively. Soch Fact Check conducted a CrowdTangle analysis and found that the same or similar posts were also shared here and here on Instagram between 26 and 27 December.
Soch Fact Check found the news to be misleading. While the notification referred to in the news story was issued and did prohibit co-education in government schools at the elementary level between grades six to eight, the Deputy Commissioner Chakwal Bilal Hashim cancelled the notification in an official statement on 24 December 2021. The statement was posted on the DC Chakwal Official Facebook and Twitter accounts.
The news stories in question did not mention that the notification was declared “cancelled/withdrawn as ab-initio”, despite being published after the 24 December 2021 statement.
Conclusion: The news articles in question are misleading as they do not mention that the notification banning co-education in Chakwal was declared “withdrawn/cancelled as ab-initio” prior to the publication of the articles. Co-education has not been banned in Chakwal.