Staff Reporter
In spite of the strict orders of the Sindh government for keeping all the educational institutions in the city closed to control the spread of coronavirus, as many as 31 privately managed schools were found open by the inspection teams of the Directorate of Inspection and Registration of Private Institutions Sindh (Dirpis).
Due to the violation of the government orders, Dirpis Registrar Rafia Javed said the registration of 19 such schools should be considered cancelled. However, their registration was not formally cancelled as the directorate office is closed these days.
The inspection teams found three private schools functioning in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, two in Gulshan-e-Hadeed, one in Bahadurabad, one in Model Colony, one in Civil Lines, two in Korangi, two in New Karachi, two in Orangi Town, one in Delhi Colony, one in Garden East and three in Baldia Town.
Rafia added that after receiving complaints from different areas of the city, the Dirpis inspection teams and officials forced the owners of around 12 more schools to close their institutes via telephone calls.
At present, around six inspection teams are active in the city to implement the government orders. Rafia said this was very alarming that some owners of private schools were endangering the lives of teachers, children and parents by violating orders of the provincial government.
She said Sindh had adopted a lenient approach by not imposing fines on the private school owners, due to which some owners violated the Sindh government’s orders in such critical times.
“It is very clear that the Sindh government has declared these holidays as summer vacations, but it is beyond comprehension why the owners are calling students and teachers to schools,” she said and added that some of those schools that were found functional on Thursday had called parents and teachers and others especially those located in Korangi, Baldia Town and Orangi Town even held classes.
She said before closing the schools, it was decided at a Dirpis meeting that the registration certificates of the schools that would not comply with the order would be cancelled. She added that in view of that decision, the registration certificates of the schools that were found open by the inspection teams during their visits on Thursday should be considered cancelled and when Dirpis opens its office officially, the future of those schools would be decided.
