Sindh to deny unvaccinated students entry, admission into Karachi colleges 

KARACHI: Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh has made it mandatory for all students in grade 11 and onwards to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, failing which they will be denied entry and admission into colleges across Karachi, the country’s largest city, a top official has said.
The directive follows a tepid launch of a COVID-19 vaccination drive in educational institutions across Sindh province on Monday, starting with distributing parental consent forms, after the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), Pakistan’s pandemic response body, barred students under 17 from getting jabs.
“No students will be allowed admission, take classes, appear in practical exams or other examinations prior to vaccination,” Professor Dr. Abdul Bari Indher, director of college education in Karachi, said in his letter to educational institutions across the port city.
He further directed all principals “to implement the directives in letter and spirit.”
“All principals should make a plan to execute the vaccine drive and its inauguration by today i.e 6th September, 2021 by filling the consent form already up-loaded/shared on DDO/Principals group and Karachi Division and get it signed from parents/guardians properly,” the notification said.
Earlier on Sunday, Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah had said that parents couldn’t be forced to get their children vaccinated.
“Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah has refuted a message of ‘directives’ to parents,” his spokesperson Saeed Memon said, adding that the minister had only “requested” parents to get their children vaccinated.
Last week, Sindh Health Minister Dr. Azra Pechuho said that a vaccination drive for students of private and public schools and colleges would kick off from September 6.
According to a handout issued by the Sindh health department, a total of 1.4 million students in grades 9 to 12 would be vaccinated during the drive, to be carried out by 2,527 teams.
However, almost all high school students in grades 9 to 10 are below 17 years of age, which is the NCOC’s age of eligibility.
“The NCOC didn’t give approval to continue with the vaccine drive [for students below age 17],” Sindh Health Department spokesperson Mehar Khurshid told Arab News on Monday. “The vaccines will be administered at schools to students who are 17 years old and above.”
The drive was officially launched today, Monday, with parental consent mandatory for students below 18 years of age, Khurshid said.
Speaking to Arab News, Haider Ali, the chairman of the All Sindh Private Schools and Colleges Association, said the vaccine drive would run in higher secondary schools and colleges and consent forms would be issued to those who met the age criteria set by the NCOC.
The decision, he said, was taken at a meeting of Sindh education department officials and representatives of private schools and colleges, which reviewed the age criteria and other requirements.
“Only those students are going to get vaccines whose age is 17 or above and whose parents grant their consent by signing the forms we have distributed today,” Ali said.
Once consent forms are collected, the data would be shared with relevant district health officer who would form vaccination teams for higher secondary schools and colleges, he added, saying high school students were practically out of the drive.
The COVID-19 positivity ratio has remained consistently high in Karachi and Hyderabad, which are the largest and most densely populated cities of the province. However, the number of new coronavirus cases in Sindh declined from 2,734 on August 4 to 1,016 on September 5.
According to the health department, 27,483,661 vaccine doses had been administered in the province so far, covering 34.83 percent of its eligible population.