Primary schools to resume classes from Sept 30: Education Minister

ISLAMABAD: The government on Tuesday allowed the primary schools to resume classes from September 30 after reviewing the COVID-19 situation in the country.

Briefing media after attending a meeting at the National Command Operation Centre (NCOC), Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood said the decision has been taken with consensus among all federating units including Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.

The minister said since the reopening of educational institutions from 15th September, 171,436 tests were carried out in the education sector out of which 1284 tested positive which is less than one percent.

The minister said keeping in view this data, it has been decided to resume the primary level classes. He said action has been taken against the educational institutions breaching the SOPs and in future also the same course will be pursued to ensure the safety of the children.

“We took the decision after we saw 0.8% positive rate after reopening educational institutes in the country,” the minister said, adding that it was satisfactory for the government.

He added that institutes were being re-opened with strict implementation of SOPs. The minister said the government’s action against coronavirus was being appreciated internationally.

He said the government will continue to monitor the situation and any violations in the implementation of safety precautions will be dealt with strictly.

Earlier on 15th September, universities and colleges and 9th and 10th grade students had resumed on-campus learning. The students of classes 6th, 7th and 8th returned to classrooms on 22nd September.

Sindh had delayed the recommencemnt of middle classes by a week but allowed the schools to reopen after reviewing the pandemic situation. The students of primary and pre-primary classes are now scheduled to return to schools from 30th September.

The spokesperson of the Balochistan government Liaquat Shahwani said that the provincial authorities have decided to propose a 15-day delay in the reopening of primary schools in today’s meeting of the NCOC.

The statement from the spokesperson came after Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan reported the highest positivity rates in the country over the last week.