Private schools adamant to resume classes from 11th

Islamabad : The Private Schools Supreme Council has announced the resumption of in-person learning on campuses from January 11.

The council's office-bearers including Afzal Babar, Abrar Khan, Nasir Mehmood and Hafiz Basharat told media here that the government should announce the reopening of schools from January 11 but even if it didn’t do so, schools would reopen on that date under the COVID-19 standard operating procedures.

They said the government needed to understand their problems and take steps to resolve them.

The council leaders said education and healthcare played an important role in the development of a country but unfortunately, the two areas had never been the priority of any government in Pakistan.

They said even in the annual budget, the amount allocated for these two sectors remains very low.

Citing a recent report of UNICEF, Supreme Council leader Dr. Afzal Babar said the future of more than 40 million students in Pakistan was at risk due to the closure of educational institutions.

He said that around 80 per cent of students belonging to poor families were deprived of online education.

“The difference between other countries and Pakistan is that the closure of educational institutions was the last option for them, while here in our country this is the first option,” he added.

He said at least 80 per cent of schools across the country did not have access to the Internet and that thousands of schools have closed their doors and many others are following the suit.

Referring to a report of the Centre of Disease Control, Dr Afzal said children under the age of 18 were less likely to be infected with the coronavirus.

The council members demanded of students of Punjab, Balochistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir also be allowed to come to schools at least once in a week on the pattern of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad and Sindh and that educational institutions be reopened with full SOPs to save the future of students.

“The government provided relief to all other sectors but unfortunately educational institutions were completely ignored. Perhaps, it is the only sector that provided a 20 to 40 per cent discount on its fees.” They also demanded relief for small-time educational institutions in electricity and water bills.