Several more educational institutions were closed in different parts of the country on Saturday over growing cases of coronavirus at the campuses.
The University of Balochistan decided to discontinue in-person classes on its campus due to ‘increasing trend of Covid-19 positivity’ at the varsity, Balochistan government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani said in a tweet. A notification by the university said hostels on its campus will also remain closed until further orders.
Balochistan diagnosed 67 cases of Covid-19 during random testing at various educational institutions in the province on Saturday. Provincial health department while random testing from September 07 to 18, diagnosed coronavirus cases in scores of schools, according to details. The ratio of positive cases has been 14.3 percent, the health department said. The health officials conducted 950 tests of teachers, non-teaching staff and students at schools and detected 67 cases, while 403 tests found negative. The reports of 480 cases yet to be released, the health department said.
Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani said that four more schools in Karachi have been sealed due to non-implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs). Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, he said that one of the schools was sealed after two teachers at the institution tested positive for coronavirus. Ghani said that the government was strictly monitoring the situation. “I acknowledge that shutdown due to Covid has badly affected education and private schools are facing problems trying to stay alive. But for us, the health of our children is more important than their loss of education and problems of private schools,” he said.
Five schools were closed after as many as 24 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus emerged in Gujranwala on Saturday. According to the health department, 164 students were tested for Covid-19, out of whom 24 turned out to be positive. These educational institutions were sealed after detection of Covid-19 positive cases, it said.
At least 11 more teachers tested positive for the coronavirus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s educational institutions, taking the total to 30 since random sampling began. According to the KP health department, two of the infected teachers belong to Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University, Peshawar, one to Sarhad University, Peshawar, and eight others to government higher secondary schools in Kohat, Charsadda and Upper Kurram. All affected teachers have been asked to self-quarantine, however, their educational institutions remain open.
Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood said Saturday that any hasty decision to close educational institutions will “destroy education”, in reference to the Saeed Ghani’s announcement from the other day that Sindh was delaying the reopening of secondary schools.
The minister tweeted that any decision the Centre will take on reopening educational institutions will be “guided by the advice of Health Ministry”. He said that the six-month closure of educational institutions had deeply affected students.
“Health of students is our first priority and any decision we make will be guided by the advice of Health Ministry. Having said that 6 months closure deeply affected the students. Decision to open was taken with great care. Any hasty decision to close will destroy education,” he tweeted.
His tweet comes a day after Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani held a press conference to announce that the reopening of schools for sixth, seventh and eighth graders in Sindh was being delayed over fears of the spread of Covid-19. He cited one of the reasons as educational institutes failing to implement COVID-19 SOPs after educational institutions were reopened in a phased manner from September 15.
