Punjab

Govt not to disrupt education again

Closure of institutions last year affected 40m students in Punjab

Yousaf Abbasi February 24, 2021

Students queue up at safe distances as they enter school on the first day of classes after educational institutes were allowed to reopen. Since then, however, several institutes have seen Covid-19 cases emerge. PHOTO: ONLINE

LAHORE:

The provincial authorities have decided not to shut educational institutions to deal with a situation like the coronavirus outbreak in future.

Senior officials decided in a meeting that the educational institutions in Punjab will be kept open this year in the light of the ongoing measures taken by the government to curb the coronavirus.

The participants were informed that almost a whole educational year had been lost due to closure of the institutions amid the pandemic. The move affected an estimated 40 million students from class I to PhD across Punjab. The schedule of examinations and results has been affected and efforts are being made to bring the system back on track during the ongoing academic session.

According to sources, the meeting was informed that the it was likely to take a longer period for the students to overcome the deficiency caused by the disruption of their education for a year.

It is estimated that about nine million students have left their education during the past year.

Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary Captain (retd) Usman Younis said that the final decision had been taken to keep the educational institutions open at all cost.

The main reason for the decision is the discovery of the coronavirus vaccines and their planned provision to the people. He said the school principals, university vice chancellors and supervisors of the institutions as well as the students had been consulted on the matter, while efforts to eradicate coronavirus would continue at every level.

Provincial Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid said the closure of educational institutions due to coronavirus was a decision forced by the circumstances at a time of an emergency but the alternative online education system did not yield the expected results.

She said 19 new laboratories had been set up and the province now had the capability to conduct 23,000 coronavirus tests daily.

Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad Akhtar welcomed the decision.

Provincial Education Minister Raja Yasir Humayun said the standard operating procedures devised to stem the spread of the pandemic were being strictly implemented in all colleges and universities on the orders of the government.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2021.