KHYBER: Students of the government degree college in Landi Kotal and a government high school here have refused to sit in their classrooms as the authorities failed to remove the quarantine centre-related instruments and items from there despite reopening of educational institutions.

Students in both the educational institutions said that most of their classrooms were locked while beds and other items provided for quarantine centres established in these two buildings were still lying there and the premises was not disinfected properly.

The Khyber district administration said that they had written to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority director general on Sept 9 to guide the administration about the permanent closure of the two quarantine centres established in the government degree college and government centennial high school after Pakistan allowed its stranded citizens to return from Afghanistan.

The district administration through the letter also requested the secretary relief and rehabilitation department along with DG PDMA to guide them about the disposal of items bought for the quarantine centres and future status of these centres as educational institutions had now been reopened. The administration is still waiting for a response from the concerned authorities.

The administration kept hundreds of returning Pakistanis at these quarantine centres soon after their return from Afghanistan with over 100 of them infected with coronavirus and later shifted to isolation wards of the local hospitals.

Meanwhile, girls students of the government higher secondary school in Landi Kotal were sent back home by the school watchman, telling them that some repair work was in progress in the building. The parents said that they tried to approach the school principal and the district education officer, but in vein.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2020