Since the government has taken the lead, quite literally, in the fight against the coronavirus it is only natural that Pakistan also becomes one of the first countries to seriously test the matter of reopening schools. And after much deliberation the government has decided to finally go ahead with the decision and send children back to their schools, in phases, beginning September 15. By the end of the month, according to the ministry of education, all students should be back in their classrooms. All that is very nice and pretty understandable. And now that the matter of what to do has been settled, it is also very important to work out just how it is to be done. Nobody in the government or otherwise should need any reminding anymore of the urgent need to practice all social distancing SOPs very strictly. Pakistan must not lose sight of the fact that other states which jumped head first into reopening schools had to go back on their decisions very quickly because they were just unable to get everybody to follow all the instructions. The result was a very rapid spread of the virus across communities that once again slowed down economies and forced yet more rescue packages out of already suffering governments. Nobody should also be under the impression that the fight against the coronavirus has been effectively won. While there can be no denying that, whether because of the government’s smart lockdown strategy or through some miracle, Pakistan has emerged much better from its lockdown than other countries, that is not to say that the virus cannot stage a dramatic comeback if we let our guard down. The government has to address a number of concerns when taking difficult decisions like this one. The economics of the whole thing is easily understood. Yet children’s education is a much deeper matter because the damage to the economy will be overcome, no matter how long it takes, but the students missing out on important months and years of education will be impacted for their whole lives. So the government’s decision to send children back to their schools makes sense in more ways than one. The government must make sure, though, that all schools have been properly briefed about all the care that needs to be taken. The rest of the economy has reopened without much trouble. There’s no reason for this part not to work out nicely as well. *