Education institutes again under coronavirus threat

F.P. Report

LAHORE: Eight teachers in Lahore on Monday tested positive for the coronavirus as the health department has started taking samples to confirm the presence of pandemic at provincial capital’s schools.

According to details, the virus has been detected in two teachers of Government Girls High School, Raiwind and three teachers of Government Boys School, Thokar Niaz Beg.

Similarly one teacher at Government High School, Awan Town and two teachers at Lahore Grammar School, Johar Town have been diagnosed with Covid-19. The teachers who have tested positive for the virus are Shameen Ramzan, Tasleem Akram, Huzaifa Shahid, Ashraf Hidayat, Shoaib Asghar, Fazl Ahmad, Saqlain Mustafa and Maria Hafeez. Schools’ management have granted leave to these teachers, and directed them to quarantine themselves.

Around 15 coronavirus cases have been reported from three government schools of Faisalabad. Confirming these cases, DEO Secondary Iftikhar Khan has said the report has been sent to DC’s office.

Giving details, he said the schools from where cases had been reported were located in Gutti, Sumundari, Makoana and Allama Iqbal Town. “Six cases have been detected at a school in Makoana, while three each in the remaining schools,” he elaborated.

A teacher and a student have been diagnosed with the virus at Sumundari’s Government School No 2. Muhammad Waseem, the school principal, said both of them SST Nasir Shehzad and matriculation student Muhammad Adeel had quarantined themselves at their homes. He further said that the decision to close these schools will be taken by the district administration.

The government has opened the educational institutes on January 18 for grade 9 to grade 12 students after shutting them for almost two months in the wake of the second wave of coronavirus. The schools from grade 1 to grade 8 as well as Higher Education institutes are set to reopen from February 1.

However the threat of coronavirus still looms large over the smooth functioning of the educational institutes. The world is experiencing variants of coronavirus with a variant from the UK is said to be more deadly than the earlier coronavirus.

The higher education authorities had already made it clear that if the coronavirus situation worsens they may close the education institutes again.

The government has just started the coronavirus testing at the educational institutes and with further testing and their results would determine the future course of action regarding keeping the schools open or not.