ISLAMABAD: Educational institutions reopened on Monday in different parts of Pakistan after a break of around two months as the daily COVID-19 coronavirus positivity rate dropped to around three percent and the pace of a national vaccination program has picked up.
Pakistan’s daily rate of infections had reached 11.27 percent on April 23. On Monday, it had dropped to 3.05 percent as educational institutes reopened in the capital city, Islamabad, and the provinces of Sindh and Punjab. The Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces had already allowed the reopening of schools and colleges on May 24 as the daily virus positivity ratio dropped below five percent in both regions. Universities reopened in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday.
“We are happy to be back in the school, but we still have to take precautions to fight the virus,” Amjad Saqib, an O-level student in Islamabad, told Arab News.
The government has made coronavirus vaccination mandatory for all teachers and allied school staff to protect them and students from the virus. Teachers and other staff are being given priority for vaccination at designated centers after presenting a letter confirming their employment.
“The government should expedite teachers’ vaccination, so that our educational institutions could become a safer place for our children,” Shahida Najam, a mother of an A-level student in Islamabad, told Arab News, urging the government to set up mobile vaccination teams who could vaccinate teachers and students above 18 years inside schools and colleges. “We should all know that it is a national duty to get the jab to secure not only ourselves but also others.”
The Islamabad District Health Office has constituted special teams to take random samples from educational institutions to test for the coronavirus in staff and students, warning that instititions with virus cases would be closed.
“We have been constantly struggling to keep the virus in check and this can be achieved only through cooperation of the educational institutions’ management and the community,” Dr. Zaeem Zia, district health officer in Islamabad, told Arab News, adding the the coronavirus vaccination drive in Islamabad was moving ahead effectively as 425,000 people out of a target of 1.2 million in Islamabad, 35 percent, had been vaccinated so far.
The government has administered 9.2 million coronavirus vaccine doses across the country as of Monday while the target is to vaccinate at least 70 million people by the end of the year.
“Vaccination is the only solution to fight this pandemic,” Zia said. “We will be able to resume fully all our educational and other activities only after the targeted population is vaccinated.”