Balochistan

Malakand, Haripur DEOs offer best Covid-19 response

Three female DEOs feature in access rankings

Our Correspondent November 19, 2020

A motorcyclist stops to purchase face masks from young roadside vendors – neither of whom are wearing masks – as Covid-19 cases continue to rise in Karachi. PHOTO: APP

PESHAWAR:

Government-run girl schools in the Malakand and Kohat districts have delivered 100% while responding to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

This was disclosed on Wednesday during a meeting of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Elementary and Secondary Education Department (ESED). Participants of the meeting reviewed the District Performance Scorecard (DPS) for district education officers (DEOs) on Wednesday. K-P ESED Minister Shahram Tarakai chaired the meeting which announced results of the DPS for November.

The meeting assessed the performance of 56 DEO Officers – including 28 men and 28 women - from the settled districts and 13 DEO officers in the Newly Merged Tribal Districts (NMTDs). The assessment was completed on quality and access indicators against targets set in their respective district education plans and Covid-19 safety and the precautionary response of schools.

Schools were ranked based on their response to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) situation, including the provision of hygienic and safety measures to reduce the spread of the virus. Schools were mandated to display pandemic-related awareness posters during educational activities and how the schools instituted policies, binding students to wear facemasks.

The scorecard showed that the boys’ schools in Buner were top with 98.1%, Upper Chitral girls’ schools were second with 98% while the boys’ schools in Shangla district was third with 97.3%that made wearing masks necessary. Girls’ schools in three other settled districts made it to the top five.

The girls’ schools in Haripur and boys’ schools in Upper Chitral were ranked first and second respectively for making hand wash and soap available. FR Kohat boys and girls schools scored 98% and 87% respectively for soap availability.

None of the newly merged districts scored less than 70% on the provision of hand wash and soap in boys and girls schools.

Teacher attendance was another indicator to gauge the quality of education across newly merged and settled districts. Overall teacher attendance in the settled districts during November increased to 92 % with Chitral DEO office-male securing top position in the scorecard.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2020.