13 educational institutes closed as sudden surge in COVID reported

ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) recently said that 13 educational institutions were closed down during the last 24 hours for flouting health guidelines and standards operating procedures (PSOs). According to latest reports, more than 750 COVID-19 positive cases after a gap of one month in Pakistan.

“In last 24 hours, 13 educational institutions have been closed across Pakistan due to non-compliance of health guidelines and protocols and disease prevalence. Ten educational institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and three in Sindh have been closed,” said a brief statement issued by the NCOC.

After a gap of six months, the educational institutions were reopened on Sept 15 in phases, with the opening of universities, colleges and high schools (9th and 10th classes) in the first phase, after a decision taken by the federal and provincial education ministers.

They had decided that from Sept 23, classes from six to eight will be allowed to resume, but the decision faced a setback on Recently when Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani announced that resumption of school classes in the second phase would be delayed by a week in the province after schools were found flouting the health guidelines and SOPs.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi, Mr Ghani said the Sindh government realised the academic losses suffered by students due to closure of educational institutions, but stressed that their health could not be compromised to compensate for the loss of learning. He said the provincial government was delaying the second phase of resuming grade 6-8 classes, added that it would now be postponed to Sept 28.

In response to the Sindh government`s announcement, federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood, who headed the Inter Provincial Education Ministers Conference (IPEMC) on Sept 8, which had decided to reopen the educational institutions in phases, from Sept 15 (universities, colleges and high schools), from Sep 23 (class six to eight) and from Sept 30 (primary schools), said in a tweet, “There is no change regarding the time table announced earlier after Inter provincial meeting of education ministers. We will meet in the NCOC on 22nd [September] to decide finally but if the current trend remains, no reason to postpone 6 to 8 [classes] opening on 23rd September.”

-MN Report