Afghanistan Times
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KABUL: The new educational year just began this week in the country’s provinces with cold weather where schools are open in spring and summer. But a number of students say that healthcare orders are not observed in their schools while the Corona virus still takes victims from people.
These students say that their class fellows do not use face masks and do not keep social distance.
“The government has no plan and only the rich students use face masks and sanitizers while others enter classrooms without masks,” said Fahim a student in Kabul and Nasir Ahmad from Paktia province.
“There are no instructions at schools. All the students sit very close to each other. We are concerned about the epidemic if one student is infected.”
Najiba Aryan, spokeswoman at the ministry of education, said that they started awareness programs at schools since the classes began.
“We started awareness programs that are implemented by teachers who inform students about the dangers of the virus. The teachers are asked to pay serious attention to their students under the instructions issued by the ministry of public health,” she said.
Ms. Aryan said that the ministries of public health and education implement a joint plan about prevention of the Corona virus at schools. She said the plan would be implemented after approval.
The government has started immunization of teachers and the education ministry says that 30 per cent of teachers have been vaccinated in Kabul, Herat and Nangarhar.
“The virus is under control in Afghanistan and we see decrease of the number of infected day by day. But the students are asked to use masks in the classroom and observe social distance because we cannot keep schools and universities closed anymore,” Osman Taheri, a spokesman at the public health ministry said. All schools were closed in the entire country last year when the government imposed a nationwide quarantine for the fear of the virus outbreak.
