Our Correspondents
Peshawar/Swat
Twenty-five schools have been sealed in Swat for reopening without the approval of the government, Deputy Commissioner Saqib Raza Salman confirmed on Saturday. The schools reopened over the announcement of the All Pakistan Private School Association. On July 20, the association announced that it would reopen private schools across the country from August 15.
Cases have also been registered against the management of the schools and their principals for violating the government’s coronavirus SOPs. It is being reported that very few students came to school on Saturday morning. Syed Tariq Shah, the chairperson of the private schools association, said that the government has been unfair towards the schools. He said that the association will stage protests if the schools aren’t unsealed and allowed to reopen soon.
Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood, while chairing an inter-provincial meeting, said that Pakistan will reopen all educational institutes from September 15. The meeting was attended by all provincial education ministers via video link. It examined the success of online education during the coronavirus lockdown in the country. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s request to reopen schools, colleges and universities in the province was rejected by Mahmood after which a consensus was reached on the opening date of September 15.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Education Minister Akbar Ayub Khan said on Saturday that private schools were only allowed to open to deal with their administrative matters. ‘Parents should inform the government if they are pressurized to send their children to schools’, he said in his reaction over the opening of schools in Swat. Khan added that only staff of the schools is allowed to come to school to discharge administrative matters and added that strict action would be taken against those schools, found violating the orders of the government. The minister said that threat of coronavirus still persists and urged the private schools’ administration to cooperate with the government.
Earlier in the day, private schools were reopened after a closure of five months due to coronavirus outbreak in Swat, Khyber Pakhutnkhuwa. Read more: Private schools reopen in Swat after closure of five months. As per details, the management of private schools in Swat reopened their schools, but the attendance remained low. Parents dropped their children to schools.
