Nine teachers of same school contract Covid-19

As many as nine teachers at the same government school have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

As part of government efforts to curb the transmission of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), as many as 44 teachers at the Government Higher Secondary School Tarnab in Peshawar were tested for the virus. Results for nine of the teachers have come back as positive, while test results of the remaining teachers are awaited.

In the wake of the Covid-19 cases discovered in the school, teachers at the school have expressed concerns over how they are being asked by the school’s management to regularly attend the institution.

“Teachers being called into school for on-line classes,” the school’s teachers complained.

With a second wave of the pandemic sweeping the country, positivity rates are soaring. Peshawar currently has among the highest positivity rates at 16.66 per cent.

In a meeting of the National Command and Control Centre in Islamabad on Monday, health officials said that the overall positivity rate of the virus was 9.71 per cent, with the highest rates recorded in Karachi at 21.31 per cent followed by Abbottabad with 17.86 per cent and then Peshawar.

On the other hand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Secretary Primary and Secondary Education Nadeem Aslam announced that all the scores of online educational activities will be included in the district performance scorecard.

While speaking to the delegations of Schools Officers Association (SOA) and Management Cadre DI Khan, Aslam also said that teachers with outstanding performances will also be awarded prizes in order to keep them interested in educating students through online methods in the future.

The secretary informed the delegation that the district performance scores will be uploaded on the website. He also urged educators to upload three-minute-long SLO-style videos as students are not able to concentrate on longer videos.

Further on, he emphasised that special attention should be given to primary schools as they are the base of learning. “No student in any part of the province should be made to sit on the floor and provision of furniture should be ensured in all educational institutions wherever there is shortage.”

He concluded that departmental action would be taken against the employees and teachers who do not follow the government's orders.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2020.