Unsure how long schools will remain open: Ghani

A day after six schools were closed in Malir following the emergence of Covid-19 cases, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani expressed uncertainty over educational institutes being permitted to stay open in the coming days.

Speaking during an event at Narayan Jagannath Vaidya (NJV) Government Higher Secondary School on Thursday, the provincial minister said, "Schools are open for now, but we don't know for how long and if they are closed, for how long [they would remain closed]."

Saying that the pandemic had affected the education around the world and not just in Pakistan, he acknowledged that the six-month-long closure of schools prior to their reopening in September had caused severe distress for students.

Seeing online classes as the only solution in case of schools' closure, Ghani also admitted that the provincial government couldn't ensure the provision of online education to students across Sindh.

"We cannot provide online education to all students in the province due to problems like the non-availability of internet," he stated, however, adding that even if authorities managed to provide 60 per cent to 70 per cent students access to online education, it could make a significant difference.

In this regard, he said, 135 students of the NJV School had been provided tablets in the first phase of the government's plan to facilitate education amid the pandemic, while 1,400 more students of the school would be given tablets in the second phase and free tablets would be distributed among students in other districts of Sindh in the last phase.

Besides, he added, the Sindh government was working in collaboration with the Microsoft Corporation on an online education programme under which millions of students had already been listed and more will be registered soon.

Replying to a question, the minister observed that so far, the implementation of pandemic-related standard operating procedures (SOPs) had been most satisfactory in educational institutes, adding that any institutes found ignoring the SOPs was being issued a warning.

"Our committees regularly visit schools and schools where Covid-19 [cases] emerge are being closed," he assured.

On the matter of the alleged abduction of the Sindh IGP last week, the provincial minister said the committee constituted on the issue had agreed that none of the details decided during its meetings would be disclosed as of now and that the committee would soon prepare a report and send it to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2020.