ISLAMABAD, Sep 14 (APP):Under the decision made by the government, thousands of schools and colleges across Pakistan will be reopened on Tuesday, ending a six-month long closure due to the pandemic COVID-19.
According to an announcement of Education Ministry, all higher education institutions in the country will be reopened from September 15 (Tuesday), whereas students from class nine to 12 will also be returning to school on the same day.
On March 13th, Pakistan closed all education institutions across the country in wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood on September 07, while announcing the reopening of some 300,000 schools, colleges, and universities, said all the education institutions would be reopened in three phases to avoid another wave of the virus.
“If the pandemic situation remain controlled, then students in grade six to eight will return to school on September 23, while students in nursery to grade five will be attended the classes on September 30,” Mahmood said.
Over 30,000 religious seminaries across the country would also be reopened in phases from Tuesday.
Similarly, the vocational and technical institutions would will also start functioning by September 15.
“Tomorrow we will welcome millions of children back to school. It is our priority & collective responsibility to ensure that every child can go to school safely to learn. We have worked to ensure that school operations were aligned with public health safety rules on #COVID19,” Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted.
Khan said his government prepared standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure safe teaching environment in education institutions.
According to the SOPs issued by the government, masks will be mandatory for all teachers and students, while schools, colleges, and university administrations will ensure availability of sensitizers at the entry gates.
Pakistan is among a handful of countries to have witnessed a dramatic drop in the number of daily coronavirus cases, from nearly 7,000 to 200 over the past few months, with fatalities from the novel virus hovering in single digits each day.
Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) also praised Pakistan and some other countries who managed the coronavirus crisis well and said world can learn from these countries.
“Pakistan deployed the infrastructure built up over many years for polio to combat COVID-19. Community health workers who have been trained to go door-to-door vaccinating children for polio have been utilized for surveillance, contact tracing and care,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO head said during a briefing.
Pakistan has so far recorded 302,020 cases, of which 289,806 have been recovered, according to the Health Ministry data.
The number of fatalities from COVID-19 stands at 6,383.
The government is currently following a “mini smart lockdown” strategy. According to this plan, authorities seal off only houses or workplaces where infections are reported, instead of closing the entire area, street or shopping center.