In spite of the strict orders of the Sindh government for keeping all the educational institutions in the city closed to control the spread of coronavirus, as many as 31 privately managed schools were found open on Thursday by the inspection teams of the Directorate of Inspection and Registration of Private Institutions Sindh (Dirpis).

Due to the violation of the government orders, Dirpis Registrar Rafia Javed said the registration of 19 such schools should be considered cancelled. However, their registration was not formally cancelled as the directorate office is closed these days.

According to a list shared by the registrar with The News, the inspection teams on Thursday found three private schools functioning in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, two in Gulshan-e-Hadeed, one in Bahadurabad, one in Model Colony, one in Civil Lines, two in Korangi, two in New Karachi, two in Orangi Town, one in Delhi Colony, one in Garden East and three in Baldia Town.

She added that after receiving complaints from different areas of the city, the Dirpis inspection teams and officials forced the owners of around 12 more schools to close their institutes via telephone calls.

At present, around six inspection teams are active in the city to implement the government orders. Sharing their daily report with The News, Rafia said this was very alarming that some owners of private schools were endangering the lives of teachers, children and parents by violating orders of the provincial government.

She said Sindh had adopted a lenient approach by not imposing fines on the private school owners, due to which some owners violated the Sindh government’s orders in such critical times.

“It is very clear that the Sindh government has declared these holidays as summer vacations, but it is beyond comprehension why the owners are calling students and teachers to schools,” she said and added that some of those schools that were found functional on Thursday had called parents and teachers and others especially those located in Korangi, Baldia Town

and Orangi Town even held classes.

She said before closing the schools, it was decided at a Dirpis meeting that the registration certificates of the schools that would not comply with the order would be cancelled. She added that in view of that decision, the registration certificates of the schools that were found open by the inspection teams during their visits on Thursday should be considered cancelled and when Dirpis opens its office officially, the future of those schools would be decided.

Replying to a question, she said Dirpis officials were not contacting the police to keep the schools closed because the home department and commissioners had already directed the police to take action against the violators.

“The private school associations are somehow cooperative with Dirpis, but the schools which are not part of any association don’t act in accordance with the rules.” Rafia said although the Sindh government had notified that public offices would remain closed till April 3, Dirpis officials, especially its inspection teams, were working in the field for the implementation of the government orders. She suggested that the Sindh government announce heavy monetary penalties on the private school owners violating the closure orders.

On Monday, the Malir police had registered FIRs against three privately managed school owners for opening their institutes. Two of the owners were also arrested by the police.

The decision to close the educational institutions was taken by the government last month when the first case of coronavirus emerged in Karachi. Initially, the education department closed all the educational institutions for two days. However, the holidays were later further extended until March 13. However, when more positive cases of COVID-19 emerged, the Sindh government decided to declare summer vacations in the province and announced that the schools will reopen on June 1, 2020.

The dates of the annual examinations of matriculation and intermediate have also been extended by the Sindh government.