KARACHI: Sindh provincial education minister, Saeed Ghani on Friday has announced that the reopening of schools in the province will now be delayed for a week as coronavirus cases have reemerged. Sindh’s schools will not reopen on September 21 as was scheduled earlier, adding the resumption has now been delayed by at least a week, he said.
A fear of coronavirus spreading across schools has forced sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders to stay back home as educational institutes have failed to enforce safety protocols, Ghani said. The provincial minister noted that students from sixth, seventh, and eighth grades would now be asked to rejoin school on September 28 only if the COVID-19 situation improved.
“Our purpose is not to shut down schools permanently. We simply seek for them to mend their ways when we see them not fulfilling their responsibility,” he said.”They should follow through with the commitments made. Following safety, protocols are not to be done for our satisfaction.
“Our children go to these schools. It is a question of their health and safety,” he underscored. The education minister said children’s health could not be gambled away for the sake of saving losses incurred by schools and a loss of learning for kids that have accumulated since the outbreak. The minister said the decision would be reviewed before September 28.
