Sindh unclear over closer of schools amid second COVID-19 wave

Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani expressing concern over surge in coronavirus cases in the province said that it is unclear if or when schools will be closed again.

The minister made these comments at a ceremony to distribute tablets among students at a school in Karachi.

He said the schools were reopened to mitigate the education loss during the pandemic. “Keeping in view the surge in COVID-19 cases, we don't know yet if and when schools will be closed again.”

The PPP leader said that the tablets would be provide relief to the students as education is moved online again. He stressed that many areas lack internet and other facilities but it is not an issue in 60 percent of the province.

"There are about 40,000 schools across Sindh. We should not leave them at the mercy of NGOs," Geo News quoted Ghani. "We should go ahead and build schools ourselves."

Saeed Ghani’s statement comes a day after the United Nations and World Bank pleaded for schools to remain open despite second coronavirus wave.

In a new report, the organisations highlighted the damage the pandemic has inflicted on children´s education, especially in poor nations.

On October 28, Pakistan reported 908 new infections, the highest number of positive cases since July 29. Sindh has reported over 900 cases and 13 deaths in the last three days.

The case positivity for the country crossed 3% with over SARS-Cov-2 being detected in over 900 samples out of the 29,449 tests conducted on October 28.