Primary Schools Reopens Today Under Strict Covid-19 SOPS

The students, teachers and staff have been directed to strictly follow the SOPs at schools.

ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-Sept 30^th, 2020) After six-month long closure due to Covid-19, Primary schools have been re-opened across the country from today (Wednesday).

The primary schools have been reopened under strict Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The officials have decided two shifts for the primary schools which means that half of the students will attend the classes on one-day while the rest of the students will come on the second day.

The timing of the shift has been reduced to four hours to ensure the better care of pupils.

Children in other cities like Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan and other parts of Punjab have also expressed happiness over rejoining the schools.

The educational institutions in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have also been open with strict implementation on the SOPs.

The primary schools have also been commenced in Peshawar and other cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) whereas children also arrived at the educational institutions in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan province.

It may be mentioned here that educational institutions in Sindh had already been reopened on September 28.

The decision was taken unanimously on Tuesday at an important meeting of National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) under Phase-III in the light of available data regarding coronavirus pandemic.

On Tuesday, Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood along with Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan announced to reopen the primary level schools (Grade 1-5) from September 30 under strict SOPs by the schools administration.

Since the re-opening up of educational institutions from September 15, a total of 1,71,436 students, teachers and administrative staff had been tested for COVID-19 across the country, out of which only 1284 were tested positive with the ratio of 0.8 percent, he added.

Shafqat Mahmood said:“The decision has been taken keeping in view the current situation regarding the pandemic which is under control,”.

He also said: “It was a matter of three million children studying at the primary level, therefore, thorough and introspective analysis of the data and deliberations was carried out to take the final decision,”.

The Federal Minister said: “I wanted to satisfy the parents that the government has taken this decision after reviewing the situation. The provincial education ministers and concerned officials were strictly monitoring the implementation on SOPs in schools,”.