Responsible reopening of educational institutions a Herculean task

The Sindh School Education & Literacy Department had postponed its steering committee’s meeting scheduled for June 10 because some of the top officials and members of the body had been diagnosed with COVID-19.

That same day, the Private Schools Action Committee (PSAC) had held a protest in front of the Karachi Press Club demanding that educational institutions be reopened. Owing to the prevalent situation, both the parties seem perplexed because they don’t seem to have an easy solution that will help minimise educational disruption during the health crisis.

Some education department officials, educators, parents and private schools associations’ leaders agree that reopening schools without strict implementation of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) can result in a disaster.

They believe that any negligence can turn educational institutions into novel coronavirus nurseries, which is why proper planning and exceptional resources are needed to avoid local transmission of the virus and keep academic activities running.

Educators’ advice

Baela Raza Jamil, CEO of Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi, said that not only the COVID-19 crisis but educational disruption also is at its peak, so reopening schools without consulting the health task forces will put the lives of pupils at stake.

She said that reopening schools is possible if the government introduces some strict SOPs and new rules. The most reliable option is the division of students of every educational institution, she added.

For example, she explained, students of a school can be divided into groups to attend their classes in different shifts. She said that after each shift, the management or administrators should disinfect all the classes.

In this way, she added, the number of students gathered at a time will be decreased and they can continue their education. However, she pointed out, the implementation of the SOPs can be a major challenge at public schools as well as at low-fee private institutions.

Baela said that public schools don’t usually have hygienic environments, while low-fee private institutions don’t have wider premises to accommodate pupils at safe distances. Such an ideal situation may only be available at elite schools, she remarked.

She said the government can also connect the health and education departments so that health teams can regularly check the conditions at schools and the preventive measures taken by their owners.

A number of other educators told The News that in the current circumstances, continuing education on campus can be a difficult task, but school administrators and the government can take many steps to reopen educational institutions.

They said that before reopening schools, they have to make sure all the students have been screened, adding that they will need to conduct diagnostic tests after an interval of two weeks, but such arrangements seem impossible because they will require a lot of resources.

Justifying the demand for reopening schools, they said that the way the government has provided monetary assistance to small- and medium-sized enterprises, the private education sector, especially the low-fee schools, also need financial support from the authorities.

Dirpis’ opposition

Directorate of Inspection & Registration of Private Institutions Sindh (Dirpis) Registrar Rafia Javed said: “I believe that it’s not right to reopen schools. In the last few weeks, we’ve seen the COVID-19 mortality rate increase, while health experts believe that every third person is testing positive. Reopening schools right now will be foolish.”

Quoting Sindh government spokesman Barrister Murtaza Wahab’s recent statement, she said that 1,700 children have tested positive, adding that people have been requested to keep their children indoors. “Right now, the provincial government is only concerned about children’s lives, because the loss of education can be dealt with later.”

She revealed that an assistant director at Dirpis has been admitted in a private hospital due to the coronavirus, while many private schools associations’ leaders have also tested positive, so the demand for reopening educational institutions is beyond understanding.

She pointed out that children’s lives are more important than chasing an academic year to complete the syllabus. “An educator can assess a student’s learning capabilities from various sources, such as their skills, extracurricular activities, general knowledge and storytelling abilities, for which reopening schools is not mandatory.”

The education minister’s focal person Zubair Memon said the provincial government will not allow any educational institution to reopen. He reiterated that private schools can open for office work and teachers can be called in, but any activity that requires students to be physically present at their institutions is strictly forbidden.

Pupils vulnerable

Muhammad Kashif Sabrani, chairman of the Parents Action Committee (PAC), said: “We the parents believe that reopening schools will be more dangerous for children. We can’t put the lives of children at risk by sending them to schools. The PAC is completely against reopening schools.”

He said that private schools have been collecting fees from parents without having to spend too much besides paying salaries to their employees, so how can they make up an excuse for reopening schools. “They aim to make more money.”

Financial assistance

Ghulam Abbas Baloch, president of the Peak Private Schools Association, said that since the closure of schools, only low-fee institutions have been facing financial problems. He said the government needs to provide loan assistance to such schools. He agreed that reopening schools is impossible in the current circumstances. He pointed out that the PSAC members who had held a protest to demand the reopening of schools with SOPs had themselves been ignoring all such rules during their demonstration. ­