PESHAWAR - As the 2nd wave of corona pandemic hit the globe the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also beefed up preventive and precautionary measures especially at educational institutions to avoid closures.
The timely and strictly implementation of COVID-19 SOPs kept the corona cases very low however in first two weeks of November the cases climbed to 1.75 percent from 1.22 percent, official data provided by Elementary and Secondary Education (E&SE) Department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa revealed.
It stated that until now 115 schools have been closed due to corona cases out of which 85 have been reopened after considerable improvement while 30 are still closed.
The data said there are a total 43,745 public and private schools in the province including 35,488 public and 8,257 private schools, adding that 5,124,925 students are enrolled at government schools with 161,232 teaching staff, while the students’ strengthen private schools is 2,508,407 students and 111,663 teachers.
The education department said that so far 50 private schools were closed over violation of COVID-19 SOPs since September 15 wherein the government imposed Rs 10,000 to Rs40,000 penalty was imposed.
The education department have urged the students and parents to cooperate with the government and schools’ administration and strictly observe the COVID-19 SOPs to avoid the closure.
When contacted education department regarding closure of educational institutions from November 20, an official said that until now the government has not taken any decision to this effect however if the situation gets worsen the closure could be announced in consultation with the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).
Regarding winter vacations, he said that these would be finalized by next week in the inter-provincial meeting of NCOC and keeping in view the corona cases in each province and the federal capital.