Covid-19: Educational institutions reopen across country after six-month long break

Students, teachers must wear face masks, administration must ensure availability of sanitizer at the gate

Educational institutions reopened across the country on Tuesday, ending a six-month-long break due to the emergence of the novel coronavirus in Pakistan.

The Ministry of Education announced that in the first phase of reopening, all higher education institutions - from class IX to XII and above - will resume classes from today. In the second phase, secondary schools will reopen and in the third phase, primary schools will resume.

According to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the government, masks are mandatory for all students and teachers, while the administration must ensure the availability of sanitizers at the gate.

The government's guidelines state that there will be no morning assembly and the temperature of the students will be checked before entering the classrooms.

In addition, students must ensure a safe distance between chairs in the classrooms. Foolproof security arrangements were made at the main gates of all the institutions.

The provincial and district administrations will monitor all SOPs in educational institutions.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Faisal Sultan welcomed students on their first day of school after a six-month-long break following the outbreak.

He requested parents, schools, administrators, teachers and students to follow basic protective steps - ensuring the use of face masks, fewer students in class and hand hygiene.

Let us welcome our children and students on the first day of opening of educational institutions. Please don't forget basic protective steps. Masks, reduced density in classes, hand hygiene. Parents, school administrators, teachers, students - all together.

— Faisal Sultan (@fslsltn) September 15, 2020

Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood, during a visit to a college in Islamabad's G-6/3 area, celebrated the reopening of schools amid the pandemic.

He was hopeful that SOPs will be implemented and warned that institutions that do not follow the government's guidelines will be closed for non-compliance.

The federal minister said teachers must ensure that students are following SOPs.

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.