ISLAMABAD – Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood on Wednesday visited different schools the federal capital and reviewed the compliance of SOPs there.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister expressed his pleasure over the resumption of educational activities in the country. “It is our collective responsibility to adhere to the precautionary measures against Covid-19,” he added.
After six-month long closure due to Covid-19, Primary schools have been re-opened across the country from today (Wednesday) under strict Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Authorities have decided two shifts for the primary schools which means that half of the students will attend the classes on one-day while the rest of the students will come on the second day.
The timing of the shift has been reduced to four hours to ensure the better care of pupils.
Children in other cities like Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan and other parts of Punjab have also expressed happiness over rejoining the schools.
The educational institutions in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have also been open with strict implementation on the SOPs.
The primary schools have also been commenced in Peshawar and other cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) whereas children also arrived at the educational institutions in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan province.
Educational institutions in Sindh had already been reopened on September 28.
The decision to reopen the primary schools was taken unanimously on Tuesday at an important meeting of National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) under Phase-III in the light of available data regarding coronavirus pandemic.
On Tuesday, Shafqat Mehmood along with Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan announced to reopen the primary level schools (Grade 1-5) from September 30 under strict SOPs by the schools administration.
Since the re-opening up of educational institutions from September 15, a total of 1,71,436 students, teachers and administrative staff had been tested for COVID-19 across the country, out of which only 1284 were tested positive with the ratio of 0.8 percent, he added.
