ISLAMABAD - All public and private sector schools and colleges of the Islamabad capital Territory (ICT) re-opened on Monday after 43 days of gap in a staggered manner due to novel coronavirus (COVID-19) prevalence.
The District Health Officer (DHO) Dr. Zaeem Zia said that a total of 66 cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed for today against 3,366 tests run across the federal capital. He said that positivity of the virus remained 1.9%.
Schools and colleges in public and private sector from class 1 to 12 were re-opened in the city with 50 percent attendance following the COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) from 08:00 am to 01:00 pm.
Parents, students and teachers held mixed responses on re-opening of the educational institutions in the city. Where some of the stakeholders supported re-opening of the educational institutions, others expressed reservations on prevalence of the virus in the city.
Imtiaz Ahmed, a parent, was of the view that re-opening of the educational institutions in the city was though essential for authorities, but still implementation on COVID-19 SOPs and controlling of virus is a challenge.
He said that despite the passing of one year, the education authorities including the ministry and schools didn’t properly work on alternate methods of teaching in the pandemic.
“We don’t know if the virus surges again. What will happen if educational institutions are again closed when vaccination rate is also reportedly slow,” he said.
According to Ahmed, there was no relief for parents and students in the pandemic as schools kept collecting fee and students faced academic loss, so the government should adopt any consistent policy to provide relief to parents and students.
Meanwhile, Talha Ahmed, a student of the grade 12, said that re-opening of the educational institutions was a welcoming step by the government as students were facing academic loss.
He said that though teachers tried delivering lectures through an online method, it was not very helpful compared to physical attendance in the class where learning and questioning is easier.
Talha said that like teachers, students should also be vaccinated at schools and colleges to increase the vaccination ratio.
President Federal Government Teachers Association (FGTA) Malik Amir Khan said that re-opening of schools and colleges was necessary because students cannot bear more academic loss.
He said that students in private elite schools can afford online classes, however, the majority of students in 423 public sector schools belong from lower middle socio-economic background and they cannot afford laptops, tuition and internet facilities.
“A vast majority of these students is dependent on what teachers teach in the class so re-opening educational institutions in a staggered manner is helpful for them,” said Malik Amir.
He also said that the initiative of teachers and staff vaccination on priority basis was a positive step by the government which will build parents and students confidence in vaccination.
According to the document available with The Nation, Federal Directorate of Education vaccinated 8802 teaching and non-teaching staff while Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority vaccinated 5717 teaching and non-teaching staff in the institutions.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Federal Education in a statement released said that no instructions to conduct Class 1-8 exams or otherwise were issued by the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training. Final exams for Class 1 -8th all around Pakistan are held internally and the decision to hold them or not rests with the provinces and individual schools. It is for them to decide what is appropriate. The Ministry has issued no guidelines about grade 1-8 exams. The Federal Directorate of Education, Islamabad, which is directly under the ministry, requested permission for holding exams of grade 8 which was accorded.