Private schools may open to pay salaries

Only principal and accountant allowed to attend office

RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government on Saturday allowed the private schools to open their offices for a brief duration for the disbursement of salaries to the teaching and non-teaching staff. The permission would remain effective from April 20 to April 25.

The notification issued in this regard said that all private educational institutions would function with only two people including the administrator or principal and the accountant between 9am to 1pm.

Keeping the social distancing directives in sight, the provincial government strictly prohibited schools to summon the students for any purpose.

Further, all schools would be obliged to clean their washrooms and entrance with chlorinated water while the visitors should follow all standard operating procedures (SOPs) for Covid-19 prevention along with maintaining the social distance between them.

Private educators could summon only a few employees each day to disburse pay among the employees if they did not use the banking system for crediting salaries, the document said. The district education officers (DEOs) would ensure implementation on SOPs and the violators would face stringent action. The government will issue dates and timings for May and June later, the notification read.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2020.