Teachers reject Covid-19 test costs
Representatives of teachers have rejected the government’s requirement of mandatory coronavirus testing for all public and private sector teachers before the reopening of schools on September 15.
They suggested that the government should send staff to collect samples from teachers in every school at union council level. Various teachers’ associations have demanded that the government must bear the burden of expenditures for corona testing and facilitate teachers in this regard.
Punjab Teachers Union Central Secretary Rana Liaquat Ali, Senior School Staff Union President Shafiq Bhalwalia, Educators Association President Basharat Iqbal Raja and Secretary Akhian Gul maintained that the government has so far conducted a total of 800,000 corona tests for the people in five months while there are a total of 1.5 million teachers in government and private schools and colleges in the province.
They questioned as to how the government could conduct such a large number of coronavirus tests in three weeks.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 27th, 2020.