Schools to open six days a week in 29 Punjab districts

Districts reporting over 20 cases daily exempted under new order

LAHORE:

In the wake of decision taken by the Punjab government, public schools in 29 districts of the province exhibiting low coronavirus infection rate will open as per their full capacity on Monday.

However, seven districts of Punjab including Lahore declared sensitive with respect to Covid-19 have been instructed to continue adhering with the policy of allowing attendance of only 50% students.

According to a notification issued by the Punjab School Education Department (SED), 29 districts will mandate full attendance of students in schools from March 1 whereas the decision would be reviewed again on March 29 to ascertain safety of pupils.

Meanwhile, district authorities in Lahore, Multan, Gujrat, Rahim Yar Khan, Sialkot, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad have been directed to conform to the old policy of allowing schools to operate on half capacity. The notification also dictated six working days for all schools.

Read more: Over 800 new schools allowed to open in Pindi

Explaining the rationale behind the policy, a senior official of Punjab School Education Department said, “To keep children safe, we only allowed those districts to open schools on full capacity where less than 20 citizens on average are tested Covid positive per day.”

“In Lahore and the other six districts, where the number of cases are above the cited limit, we have restricted the school attendance to 50%,” he underscored.

He also said that the school administrations have been asked to strictly monitor observance of SOPs throughout the day.

On a question regarding concerns expressed by citizens over endangering health of children, he said district administrations have been advised to keep checking the number of new Covid patients every day,

An official source told The Express Tribune that more than 200 coronavirus positive cases have been reported across Punjab schools up to the present out of which a majority of those infected were either teachers or among administrative staff.

Keeping in view these facts, the teachers’ associations and community across the province are opposing the government’s decision and have called upon the chief minister to review it.

Choudhry Allahrakha Gujjar, the president of Punjab Teachers Union stated, “Thousands of young children are at risk of falling prey to Covid-19 already and this new order will increase the risk further.”

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2021.