GLOBALLY, the two childhood activities affected most by Covid-19 have been routine immunisation and schooling, which may have a lasting impact on children’s development. Prior to the pandemic, an estimated 22.8 million children aged five to 16 were already out of school in Pakistan. Then government-mandated lockdowns disrupted the education of even those children who were enrolled in school. With schools across Pakistan now reopening, it is extremely important to ensure they remain open. The governments have issued SOPs to ensure the safety and well-being of students as well as to limit the spread of Covid-19 through community infection, but schools may still struggle with the additional burden of having to develop strategies to manage infrastructure, logistics and protocols. Preparedness for reopening education institutions can be a challenging task, since there are no comparable events in recent history to draw lessons from. Stark comparisons have been made to the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 that took millions of lives. While mask-wearing, handwashing and social distancing are cornerstones of the battle against Covid-19, it is important to address these additional challenges and chalk out mitigation strategies. To ensure the well-being of all stakeholders — including students, teachers and staff members and parents — the primary task of all schools will be to ensure that everyone practises regular handwashing and cough etiquette, uses face masks as per WHO guidelines, maintains a physical distance of at least three to six feet from others, and isolates at home in case they develop fever and/or flu-like symptoms. Training, awareness and communication will be key to ensuring school-wide safety. Training, awareness and communication will be key to ensuring school-wide safety. Schools will have to educate communities through active communication channels to effectively practise SOPs. These can include instant messaging groups and other forms of social media to communicate and coordinate effectively, as well as printed media such as brochures, flyers on bulletin boards and banners to spread awareness and advocate for universal compliance with safety measures.