ISLAMABAD: The educational institutions working under the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) are still continuing their routine educational activities on Saturdays in violation of the directives of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) imposing lockdown on Saturday and Sunday to keep the citizens safe from the health risks of COVID-19. According to an official source, the District Magistrate has imposed a lockdown on Saturday and Sunday in Islamabad in compliance to the decisions of NCOC in wake of the rising coronavirus cases. But educational institutions of Islamabad Capital Territory will still observe Saturday as a working day obeying the FDE’s orders. The FDE seems to be less concerned about the consequences of violating COVID-19 precautions and is reluctant to abide by the orders of District Magistrate Islamabad regarding lockdown.
A female teacher on the condition of anonymity said, “Government offices, markets, and gatherings at indoor and outdoor places are banned on Saturday but our school is open”. She continued saying that during the month of August, over 25 schools were closed due to corona positive cases. Schools should be closed on Saturday like FDE and other government departments to stay safe from coronavirus as this respiratory disease has already killed over a million people worldwide so far. A lecturer at Islamabad Model College for Girls (Postgraduate) F-7/2 said, “The controlling office (FDE) observes Saturday as a holiday leaving 423 educational institutions on auto system.
While in case of any mishap, educational institutions cannot approach FDE because there is nobody to answer on Saturday at FDE. It feels very irritating that FDE is being so careless because of which, the staff of educational institutions have to suffer. A laboratory assistant of Islamabad Model Postgraduate College H-8 explained his annoyance over not following the directions related to COVID-19 precautions and said “Nothing is more important than the lives of the students and the authorities must listen to the NCOC’s orders regarding declaring the weekend days as off. The assistant said, “Not all the parents are sending their children to schools on Saturdays and there will be no academic loss if the rest of the students are allowed to have a holiday.”