Change of plan: Primary schools reopen in Balochistan today

Balochistan government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani has announced the reopening of all government-run primary schools across the province from Wednesday (Sept 30).

All schools would reopen from tomorrow (Wednesday), Shahwani said in a statement released to the press, Quetta Voice reported.

The statement comes a day after Shahwani’s earlier announcement that the primary schools in Balochistan will remain closed for another 15 day amidst the rise of coronavirus cases in educational institutes.

Educational institutions in the province have reported 525 cases of the novel coronavirus.

Academic activities

“Academic activities would start in all 12,218 primary schools in Balochistan," Shahwani said, adding that masks and sanitizers would be provided to all the government-run schools to ensure implementation of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Although, the education department’s statistics show that 8,188 government-run primary, middle and high schools have no toilets across the province.

Over 11,000 government-run schools have no facility of drinking water, Sher Khan Bazai, the Secretary Education Balochistan told the daily.

The spokesman said the health department would conduct coronavirus tests of all teachers and students in the province. He however stated that the educational institutions would quarantine teachers and students testing positive for the coronavirus for 14 days.

“They would rejoin classes after completing the quarantine period," Shahwani said. Balochistan had reopened universities, colleges, and higher secondary schools on September 15 after the announcement of the federal ministry of education.

Balochistan University, Sardar Bahadur Khan (SBK) Women University, and the Balochistan University of Information Technology and Management Sciences (BUITEMS) had been shut after reports of coronavirus infections earlier this month.