COVID-19: Teachers union against reopening schools in Punjab

LAHORE: Maintaining SOPs formed to stem the spread of the coronavirus is not only difficult but almost impossible, said the Punjab Teachers Union (PTU) on Friday, advising the government against reopening primary and middle schools as more cases of the pandemic emerge each day, reported The News. 

In a press release, PTU Central President Chaudhry Sarfraz and other leaders observed that owing to a large number of children, it would not be possible to seat children away from each other at a safe distance, in accordance with the SOPs. The PTU said that amid the scorching heat , children would also face problems such as power outages and the supply of cold drinking water to schools. 

Moreover, the PTU said that the implementation of coronavirus SOPs in schools is not possible in the current situation when the number of patients due to coronavirus are increasing day-by-day and the people are visiting markets, shopping malls and using public transport in large numbers.

The PTU said there are not enough funds available in government schools to provide masks and sanitizers to students on a daily basis. If educational institutions are reopened, a large number of students could be infected with the coronavirus, said the teacher's body.

The PTU called on the Punjab education minister and his secretary to formulate a strategy to reopen educational institutions in phases. In the first phase, a limited number of students (section-wise) from IX to XII could be asked to attend schools in different hours, from 6:30am till 9:30pm, the PTU suggested.

PTU also suggested that the policy of reopening schools should be formulated at the district level instead of the provincial level so that the respective district education authorities could decide the school hours keeping in view their local conditions.

Originally published in The News