Schools to resume all classes

LAHORE:

The Punjab School education Department has announced to completely open schools from the next week as the number of new Covid-19 cases in school children dropped to zero over the last two days.

The Express Tribune has learnt that around 45,000 students have been tested for the contagion since September 15.

As many as 12.5 million children are getting education in the province’s public schools out of which 2.4 million are enrolled for grade 9 and 10.

“Fear has gripped little children and it is hard for us to convince them to go to school,” Khalid Mahmood, a father of school-going children, said.

He expressed concern if the schools would be able to ensure protection of children’s health.

Spokesman for the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD) warned against flouting stand operating procedures (SOPs) in education institutions following the decline new Covid-19 cases among students.

“Coronavirus is still a threat. As many as 178 new cases have been confirmed in Punjab therefore the masses should keenly follow precautionary measures,” he stressed.

On the other hand, Rana Liaquat Ali, the secretary general of Punjab Teachers Union, was apprehensive about the testing ratio maintained by the government to ascertain coronavirus inflictions.

“It is right that no new covid-19 cases in schoolchildren have been confirmed in past couple of days but it is worrisome that this may be a misleading figure as only 5% students were tested per school,” he highlighted.

Nevertheless, Rana maintained that the teaching community was doing its best to create a safe environment along with school administrations.

He also demanded an increase in the number of coronavirus tests of school kids to get a better perspective with regard to their health and wellbeing.

It should be pointed out that 81 virus cases were reported in students throughout the province on September 23.

Meanwhile, the P&SHD has stated that with the registration of news cases the virus tally capped at 98,864 in Punjab on Friday.

“Fortunately, no coronavirus deaths were reported during the last 24 hours in the province,” a P&SHD official asserted. He said the total number of contagion related deaths have flattened on 2,229.

Lahore and Rawalpindi have been struck the worst by the pandemic with 48 new cases each, followed by 18 in Gujranwala, 10 in Mianwali, nine in Nankana Sahib, seven in Faisalabad, and four each in Multan, Sargodha, Bahawalpur and Sahiwal.

Other cases that reported coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours were: three each in Sialkot, Gujrat, Dera Ghazi Khan and Okara, two each in Lodharan and Kasur, and one each in Sheikhupura, Chakwal, Vehari, Chiniot, Khushab, and Muzaffargarh.

Approximately 1.19 million tests have been conducted by the Punjab health department since the onset of the pandemic out of which only 95,197 confirmed patients have recovered.

Sources said the government monitoring teams are inspecting schools to oversee arrangements and punishing those found guilty of undermining safety protocols outlined by the health department as the threat of coronavirus looms.

Official sources have revealed that at least 100 school headmasters including seven in Lahore were suspended by authorities for negligence of SOPs on Covid-19 prevention.

Public and private sector schools have been strictly directed to ensure SOPs’ implementation to keep children safe.

The education department in the recent past had allowed schools to resume classes six and above. Moreover, colleges and universities in Punjab had also started their academic activities.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2020.