Schools to remain open in Sindh as scheduled: Saeed Ghani

KARACHI: Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani said all public and private schools will remain open in the province as per schedule. 

Earlier, a meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) was held on closure of schools in various provinces. It was decided that schools in nine districts of Punjab will remain closed till April 11, 2021.

Ghani denied any such move will be implemented in Sindh. Addressing media after the meeting, the Sindh education minister aid the coronavirus situation in Sindh and Balochistan is under control at the moment. He said that schools in Sindh will remain open as per schedule.

The minister said even in Punjab, schools other than those of the nine districts would remain open. He said the coronavirus situation in Punjab was alarming, compared to Sindh and Balochistan. He said the coronavirus positivity ratio in Sindh on Tuesday was 2.6%, which was not high.

The education minister said schools in Sindh where coronavirus cases were being reported in large numbers were being closed. Ghani said if the provincial government was to impose smart lockdowns in different areas of Sindh then schools will be closed down over there.

“Given the situation, we have decided that all educational institutions across Sindh will remain open as usual, but only 50 percent children will be invited under SOPs,” he said.

He said that all private and public educational institutions would be bound to fully implement SOPs and if any case of coronavirus was found in any educational institution, the school or college would be closed and action will be taken against those responsible.

Regarding the schedule of examinations in the province, he said that NCOC meeting  had decided that no one would be promoted to any level without examinations this year. He said all examinations in Sindh would be held as scheduled.

An important meeting of the NCOC was held earlier during the day during which it was decided to close schools operating in coronavirus hotspot areas.

The Punjab government announced the names of nine districts where all public and private schools will remain closed. Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas said public and private schools in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Multan, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Sargodha, Sheikhupura will remain closed till April 11th, 2021. The remaining districts will be open on the previous schedule.