NATIONAL Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has extended the closure of schools for grades one to eight in the districts most affected by the Covid-19 till the 28th of this month whilst classes IX to XII will resume from April 19 with the strict adherence to the precautionary SOPs.
The NCOC has so far done excellent work to check the spread of Covid-19. Its latest decision regarding the schools is also very pragmatic one and in our view such an approach should have been adopted much earlier in order to save the precious time of especially those students preparing for the board exams.
Given the age group of the students of matric and intermediate level, it is far easier for the school administration to ensure compliance to the SOPs such as wearing of masks and social distancing. This is also the very critical phase regarding the future of students.
This is the reason that the educational institutions make special arrangements for the studies of matric and intermediate students so that they could perform better in the board exams.
However this past year has badly affected the studies of all the students due to the extended closure of schools and the most affected amongst them indeed are those of matric and intermediate students.
How do they perform in the upcoming board exams is yet to be seen? Anyway, it will be advisable for the government not to shut schools for these classes.
But at the same time it must be ensured that the educational institutions comply with the SOPs as no compromise can be made on the safety of students.
Having said so, in our view, the vaccination process needs to be accelerated. Its current pace is not satisfactory at all.
Resource constraint should not be allowed coming in the way of vaccination procurement as failure to control the virus will have far serious consequences for all the sectors of the economy.
It is better to spend a few hundred million dollars on the vaccine instead of bringing to a grinding halt the whole country.
