Sindh’s education minister Saeed Ghani said on Saturday that the second phase of reopening of schools has been postponed until 28th September.

He said while speaking at a press conference that schools reopening for classes V to VIII have been delayed amid a rise in coronavirus cases.

He added that four more educational institutions in Karachi have been sealed today due to a violation of SOPs. He told reporters that the government allowed only 20 percent of the school-going children to return to schools for on-campus classes to determine whether the SOPs are implemented or not. He said that the delay in the resumption of secondary classes is not a big issue.

In addition to this, he questioned, “How could we start the second phase of reopening of schools if health guidelines are thrown to the winds with just 20 percent of the pupils attending classes.” He assured that they will review the situation of implementation of the SOPs next week, they will then decide regarding the resumption of classes.

The minister said 14,500 coronavirus tests have been conducted at schools across the province and the results of 5,000 have received. Thus far, 91 people have tested positive for the infection.