Daily Times

The Punjab government on Sunday warned that any school, public or private, if reopened from Monday, will be dealt with strictly and all educational institutes must remain closed till the provincial government’s official notification in the matter.

Taking to Twitter, Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas stated that no private or public school in the province will open till the Punjab government allows it through a notification.

“We will not let anyone [endanger] the lives of our children and teachers and their families,” the provincial minister wrote on Twitter.

Last week, the Punjab Teachers Union (PTU) stood against reopening schools in the province, maintaining that standard operating procedures (SOPs) formed to stem the spread of the coronavirus is not only difficult but almost impossible and advised the government against reopening primary and middle schools as more cases of the pandemic emerge each day.

In a press release, PTU Central President Chaudhry Sarfraz and other leaders observed that owing to a large number of children, it would not be possible to seat children away from each other at a safe distance, in accordance with the SOPs. The PTU said that amid the scorching heat, problems such as power outages and the supply of cold drinking water to schools would also be faced.