Poor choice

The recent decision to turn educational institutions into quarantine centers has left the people concerned. While Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has turned 231 schools into quarantine centers, Balochistan and Punjab have also turned school colleges and universities into quarantine centres. Although utilizing educational institutes as medical centers is a normal practice during disasters, it should have been the last option in a situation such as the Covid-19 outbreak, given the risk of contagion.

I urge the federal and provincial governments to ensure that parents are informed of the steps that will be taken to ensure that schools that are turned into quarantine centers are adequately disinfected before they are re-opened. It might be more helpful if the government shifts quarantine centers to publicly owned buildings so that once the pandemic is over, there is no delay in the re-opening of schools and children can immediately resume their education. Finally, I urge the government to ensure that during future pandemics, schools and other educational institutes are not turned into health facilities, and planning in this regard is carried out beforehand

Zill-e-Huma

Rawalpindi