Fed govt plans to reopen educational institutes in phases: Shafqat Mahmood    

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood on Friday said that the government plans to reopen educational institutes in a phase-wise manner, setting the priority of opening it from higher secondary classes to middle and primary gradually, ARY NEWS reported.

Addressing a presser, Shafqat Mahmood said that the final decision on reopening educational institutes would be made by September 07. “Students have suffered a lot due to the closure and we have received suggestions regarding reopening,” he said as the country is witnessing a declining trend of coronavirus.

He said that the old schedule of classes would be restored in the country if the declining trend continues in future.

Shafqat Mahmood also denied a tweet attributed to him regarding the closure of schools till October and said that the decision to reopen schools on September 15 would be made in the week-before meeting of all stakeholders.

Speaking on the occasion, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Affairs, Dr Faisal Sultan said that risk of COVID-19 spread would remain high when 50 million children would go to schools.

He warned against lack of implementation on the SOPs and said that the virus has not died down completely and could witness another surge. “We have an option to reopen the educational institutes in phases,” Dr Faisal Sultan said.

Earlier in the day, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani on Friday laid out recommendations for reopening of educational institutions from September 15.

He presided over a meeting of the provincial education department’s steering committee to discuss the reopening of educational institutes and health guidelines to protect students, especially children, from the highly contagious disease.