Schools in Sindh would remain closed

Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho said on 3 June 2021 that schools in the Sindh province would remain closed until the government was certain that coronavirus cases were on the decline.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi, flanked by Information Minister Nasir Shah, the health minister said: “This is a numbers game. We have to proceed with caution until the numbers improve and don’t want to risk the lives of our children, their parents and relatives. “So schools will remain closed until we (the Sindh government) are certain that the numbers (of coronavirus cases) are decreasing and won’t increase."

The National Command and Operation Centre earlier on May 19, thad allowed the staggered reopening of educational institutions from May 24 in districts where the positivity rate was less than five per cent. Punjab School Education Minister Murad Raas had also set the date for schools reopening in Punjab from June 7.

During the press conference on Thursday, Pechuho said that the inoculation campaign for teachers and educational staff was also being sped up and planning was being done with the education department on how to vaccinate every staff member so students didn’t get infected from them.

“We want to ensure [for schools] that there is complete health protection and a child doesn’t get infected with the virus at school."

The health minister’s comments came in the wake of the prime minister allowing the Sindh government to extend lockdown restrictions for another week to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the province.

Despite no decision on schools reopening in Sindh, Education Minister Saeed Ghani said on Tuesday that matriculation and intermediate exams in the province would be held in July and the decision regarding exams of classes up to eight would be made within the next few days.

Responding to a question about the vaccines being administered to students going abroad, Pechuho said a plan was being made for students whose semester would start in September in the UK, US and other countries.

“We are restricting the incoming Pfizer [doses] for students who are going abroad for studies," the health minister said, adding that the reason for this was the UK’s condition for vaccinations with either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca jabs — not that other vaccines were not effective. “Since our Pfizer supplies are low, we will try to administer these mostly to those students."

Reported by Daily Dawn on 3 June 2021