Fourth wave may jeopardise new academic session

Declare schools safe and allow physical classes to resume at 50 pc capacity, demands association of private schools

After two year of constant complications, fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic has once again left the province’s education system in doldrums right before the start of the new academic session.

Sindh’s schools and colleges, slated for an on-campus reopening on August 02, 2021, are now mulling a change of plan owing to the surge in virus cases.

While a final decision is yet to be made in the regard, parents, children and school administrations all appear to be wary of another online term, which has proven to be full of loose ends and difficulties in the past two years.

“I keep paying for online classes, but my child has failed to develop the kind of ability that a child of his age should have,” claimed father of fourth-grader admitted to a private school.

Similarly, Suraya Khatun, another parent disappointed by the virtual-education system, said that she doesn’t understand how malls and markets can remain open during the pandemic, but schools cannot operate under SOPs. “Shopping can be done online, but education cannot,” she rejoined.

On the other hand, the Grand Alliance of Private Schools Associations, a provincial network of private school associations, recently met Sindh Private Institutions Director General Mansoob Siddiqui in his office and presented its charter of demands to the Sindh Department of School Education.