Five students, 2 teachers at Delhi's Vasant Kunj school test +ve

In a message to parents on Thursday, the school said that a student of Class 9 tested positive on Wednesday evening.

At least five students and two teachers at a private school in south Delhi have tested positive for Covid-19, the school administration said on Thursday, dismissing a knee-jerk closure of the school.

The school principal did not respond despite attempts. (HT Archive)

In a message to parents on Thursday, the school said that a student of Class 9 tested positive on Wednesday evening. Subsequently, the information was updated and the school said that two teachers and five students have tested positive.

“The school doctor immediately went to the class and informed them about the Covid case and sensitised them and asked them to follow all Covid precautions strictly and not to come to school if any Covid symptom is found,” the school said. It added that parents of the students in affected classes have been informed, and sanitisation and fumigation of classes was undertaken.

The school principal did not respond despite attempts.

For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, schools in the Capital reopened solely in the offline mode on April 1 this year.

The resumption of routine school activity coincided with the suspension of compulsory mask mandate and other Covid-19 protocols in the city.

In the past week, students in two separate institutions in Noida and Ghaziabad have also tested positive for the viral infection.

Urvashi Saikumar, a parent, whose daughter studies in the primary wing of the school, said that the school had shared a message informing about the sanitisation of classes even though it was not known if particular classes or wings of the school would be cordoned off. “A few of us wrote to the school with concerns that there was no protocol outlining the detection of Covid cases in the school. We were told that we’d receive messages on the class group as and when Covid cases are detected,” said Saikumar. She said that while many schools had a proper protocol entailing testing of all students, similar protocols were needed for other schools.

Sudha Acharya, chairperson of the National Progressive Schools’ Conference (NPSC), which has over 120 private Delhi schools as members, said that it was crucial for schools to have standard operating procedures in place.

Acharya, who is also the principal of ITL Public School in Dwarka, said that while no one at her school has tested positive so far, the school has a quarantine zone where children with fever or Covid-like symptoms were sent for aid. “If we suspect such symptoms, we inform the parents and move the children out of the class. The class is sanitized and subsequently, classes take place online for two days,” said Acharya.