Nine school teachers test positive for COVID-19 in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Nine teachers of Government Higher Secondary School Rashkai in Peshawar have tested positive for the COVID-19 on Wednesday.

According to an official from the Elementary and Secondary Education Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the infected teachers have been sent to their homes on a 15-day leave.

However, the academic activities in the school are underway under strict precautionary measures, he added.

Earlier, an educational institute in Islamabad had been sealed after 17 students have tested positive for novel coronavirus on Tuesday.

National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had also confirmed the news. As per details shared by the NCOC, the institution was sealed after surfacing of 17 coronavirus cases.

Schools and colleges across Pakistan reopened today after remaining closed for more than six months due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

According to the SOPs issued by the government, masks have been made mandatory for both teachers and students, while administrative staff has been directed to ensure the availability of sanitizers at the entry points.

Religious seminaries across the country have also reopened. Similarly, the vocational and technical institutions started functioning as well.

On Monday, Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood had said the government will close the educational institutions found violating the standard operating procedures (SOPs) devised to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Shafqat Mahmood, during his surprise visits to public sector educational institutions in Islamabad, said the decision to reopen the institutions was not an easy task. “The safety and well-being of students is the government’s top priority, he added.

He said, “I already recommended the division of classes into two sections as a precautionary measure against coronavirus in order to continue academic sessions and the classes should be continued into separate batches of students”.

He said Pakistan gave an outstanding response to the COVID-19 challenge in the education sector.

Shafqat Mahmood had said that the federal authorities would assist the educational institutions for conducting coronavirus tests wherever it is required.