Second Wave of COVID-19 in Pakistan: Our Responsibilities and Challenges as A Nation

The Corona virus (SARS-CoV2) pandemic initiated in late December 2019 in Wuhan city of Hubei, China, which has rapidly progressedinvolving more than 215 countries of the world. It was caused by novel SARS-COV2 coronavirus with Huanan seafood wholesale market as the possible point of origin. In past two decades, coronaviruses epidemic of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-COV) had 37% mortality rate and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-COV) had 10% affecting more than 10,000 population together. World Health Organization (WHO) declared it as the sixth Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30, 2020 and later on March 11, 2020, the WHO labeledit as a pandemic. The first case of COVID-19 from Pakistan was reported on 26th February, 2020 and has affected over 354,000 people with a mortality of over 7000 patients. Many countries of the world have seen second wave of this pandemic. Government ofPakistan has also declared a second waveon October 28, 2020, after the rise in cases from 500 to 750 per day. Now it has crossed 2000 cases. The data released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) shows that the current percent positivity rate is close to 3 compared to the previous figure of lesser than 2 making it a bigger challenge than first wave in Pakistan. The patients now presenting in hospitals are all in critical condition. Lack of a specific vaccine or antiviral drug and non-compliance to the standard preventive measures is the major reason of initiation of a second wave of this viral infection in Pakistan. Being a nation we need to be responsible. Our country may go into economic crisis & our health facilities may choke. We have to understand how to live with this virus till the availability of vaccine or Curative antiviral drug. TheGovernment of Pakistan is creating awareness in the public for the second wave as the situation of pandemic is getting worse. Smart lock downs are being implementedbut people are not following preventive measures that are leading to infection spread at a very alarming speed. At the moment preventive measures are the only way to stop the spread of disease. Preventive measures should be adopted to contain this deadly disease. Wearing masks, using hand sanitizers, washing hands with soap for 20 sec, keeping social distance of 6 feet are mandatory preventive strategies. Social, political, business, recreationaland religious gatherings, should be avoided. Educational institutesshould follow strict standard operating procedures. Most of the people in Pakistan are not considering this disease as a matter of serious concern due to unawareness, poverty, beliefs and lack of resources. People should ignore such disbeliefs and should start considering it as a great health concern. They should follow the preventive measures in true sense.

Impact of Transformational Leadership Styles of Principals on Job Satisfaction of Secondary School Teachers

Much of the fresh literatures on effective schools have been emotionally connected to the leadership role of the school principals and teachers’ job satisfaction to the achievement of organizational outcomes. Transformational leadership theory has pitched these relations in a new perspective where supporters have claimed that transformational leaders are more able to satisfy their followers to achieve their organizational objectives compared to other styles of leadership. This study was aimed to determine the impact of transformational leadership styles of principals on job satisfaction of secondary schools teachers. The major objectives of the study were: (1) to investigate the level of transformational leadership styles of principals; (2) to identify the level of job satisfaction among secondary schools teachers and (3) to examine the relationship between transformational leadership styles of principals and job satisfaction of secondary schools teachers. To achieve the objectives, the hypotheses were tested. This study was delimited to secondary schools teachers of government male high and higher secondary schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and all government teachers enrolled in different programs at Northern University, Nowshera. It was descriptive co relational study and survey method was used for data collection. The population for the study was all secondary schools teachers of 1166 government male high and higher secondary schools and all government teachers enrolled in various programs of Northern University in KPK. Using a convenient sampling technique, a sample of 1050 teachers from 140 schools, 20 each of seven selected districts on the basis of cultural background, was taken as sample-I. Another sample of 100 government teachers enrolled in different programs from Northern University was taken as sample-II. Two instruments i.e. MLQ and JSS were used for the collection of data in this study. Data were collected through personal visits. Data were analyzed by applying mean, standard deviation, ttest and Pearson’s correlation. The findings of the study were that principals of male high and higher secondary schools showed higher level of transformational leadership styles. The level of job satisfaction of secondary school teachers was found at a moderate level. Both the samples showed a positive and significant relationship between transformational leadership styles of principals and job satisfaction of secondary school teachers. The findings revealed no major differences in the results of collected data from two different environments and locations.