School bells ring for first time in six months

Educational institutions across Pakistan will reopen in three phases from Tuesday (today) after the longest closure in the country's recent history because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Welcoming millions of children back to school, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday it was the priority of the government and the collective responsibility of the nation to ensure that every child could go to school safely.

The educational institutions are reopening after more than six months of closure following drop in the number of new coronavirus cases. For the reopening, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had issued the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

"Tomorrow we will welcome millions of children back to school. It is our priority & collective responsibility to ensure that every child can go to school safely to learn," Imran said in a tweet. "We have worked to ensure that school operations are aligned with public health safety rules on Covid-19."

The closure of schools was first ordered in Sindh, where Pakistan's first coronavirus case emerged on February 26 this year. Initially, the educational institutions were closed for two days, on February 27 and 28.
However, the Sindh government then closed the educational institutions for another 15 days -- March 1-15. However, as more cases surfaced in other provinces, the federal government closed all educational institutions across the country from March 16 to May 31.

On June 1, the annual summer vacations began in schools, colleges and universities. Yet, when the coronavirus cases continued in July, the closure of educational institutions was extended for another three months.

During that period all the institutions were unable to conduct annual examinations. In April, the Cambridge Board announced that it would cancel A and O level examinations all over the world, including Pakistan, and give direct grading to the students.

Later, the federal government, after consulting all the provinces, also announced the cancellation of Matriculation and entrance examinations across the country and decided to promote the students directly to the next class.

In the meantime, some private and later public universities in Pakistan started a series of online classes for their students, which initially faced some difficulties, including electricity load-shedding and lack of internet access.

But because of a lack of alternative, the private schools also started online classes for their students, which are still ongoing. Simultaneously, a formal formula has been worked out for the grading of the students.

On September 7, according to a joint decision of the federal and provincial governments, the authorities decided to reopen the educational institutions in phases. In the first phase, the IXth and Xth classes will start in schools from Tuesday (today).

Similarly, teaching and examinations in colleges and universities will also start from Tuesday. In the second phase, classes from VIth to VIIIth will start from next week on September 22, while primary and pre-primary classes will start from the end of September.

Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood has said that the decision to reopen educational institutions would be applicable to both public and private sectors, besides vocational centers and religious seminaries.The SOPs
Mahmood warned of punitive action against educational institutions if precautionary measures were not followed.

He said the government had to take difficult decisions during the lockdown period, which included promotion of students of higher secondary education to next class.

According to the NCOC, necessary instructions had been issued for the reopening of the schools, requesting the parents and the teachers to adopt safety measures, while sending their children to school.

Send children to school wearing masks, even if it is a cloth mask, the NCOC said, adding that if the child is having a cough or any other sickness symptoms, he or she must never be sent to school. "If the condition worsens, the child should be tested immediately," the NCOC said.

According to the guidelines, the school should be notified immediately in case a child is tested positive for Covid-19. For teachers, the NCOC directed that social distancing should be maintained between children and that children wash their hands regularly or use sanitiser.

According to the NCOC guidelines, drivers who take children to school or college should ensure social distance in their vehicles and ensure that the children were wearing face masks, while sitting in the vehicles.