BAHAWALNAGAR: Three teachers have died of Covid-19 in the past three days, whereas 12 teachers have also been diagnosed with the virus in four government schools.

Kulsoom Akhtar deputed at the Government Girls Primary School, Amroka died on Saturday. Similarly, Shabana Rasool of the school at Chak 4/58, Haroonabad tested positive for Covid-19 on April 19 and she was later shifted to the Bahawal Victoria Hospital where she died on April 22. Another teacher, Shumaila Noreen, of the Government Girls High School, 114, Murad also lost her life on April 22.

A report issued on April 24 by the CEO Office said the Government Girls High School, Al Fatima Town, Haroonabad had three teachers who tested positive and the Government Girls High School 6 Ford Wah’s two teachers tested positive. The report said these schools were sealed, whereas four more schools in the district were partially sealed after cases emerged.

According to education department sources, dozens of teachers and students had been diagnosed with Covid-19, especially from government girls’ schools, because of the disregard of SOPs.

The sources said that the number of Covid-19 patients at schools had reached dozens and this trend was on the rise. On the other hand, the families of the Covid-hit people said that the administration instead of sealing the whole school after a case was found only sealed a single room which was an insufficient measure.

They demanded that instead of partially sealing the school where a Covid-19 case was found, the administration should seal the whole school and also vaccinate the teachers and students of the affected school to curb the spread of the virus.

Education CEO Shahida Hafeez told Dawn that the District Education Authority was following the government policy of partially sealing a school where a single case was found, whereas if more than one case was found at a school, the whole school was being sealed. She said that teams consisting of DEOs and AEOs were checking one private and five government schools daily to check whether Covid-19 and dengue SOPs were being followed.

She said if a school was found violating the SOPs, it was sealed immediately. She said that on April 24, a private school at Naseerpur Mattan McLeoad Ganj was found violating the Covid-19 SOPs and illegally operating as a private school. She said that the owner of the school was arrested and an FIR had been lodged against him at the Minchinabad police station.

Health CEO Dr Shahid Naeem said that in Bahawalnagar a total of 34 people had lost their lives due to Covid-19 and 1,341 patients had been infected by the virus out of which 310 had been isolated.

He said that vaccinating all the people at the affected school was not possible at the moment. However, he said that as per government instructions, people aged 50 and above were being vaccinated free of cost.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2021