Gzb admin requests UP govt to advance summer vacations, says online classes putting stress

The Ghaziabad district magistrate on Monday said he has written to the state government recommending advancing of summer vacations of schools after he got to know

The Ghaziabad district magistrate on Monday said he has written to the state government recommending advancing of summer vacations of schools after he got to know of issues related to online classes. He said he spoke to about a dozen students to know the issues the students have been facing while taking classes online.

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“I have written to the state government recommending advancing of summer vacations. I have also spoken to some students over the phone about the issues they are facing while continuing with online studies. The recommendation will be sent to the government for all schools, including CBSE, ICSE and government schools, in Uttar Pradesh,” Ghaziabad DM Ajay Shankar Pandey said.

According to officials, they have been receiving complaints from parents, students and parents’ associations about the effect on children from taking classes online for long, which are currently on during the lockdown period.

“First, the children have to keep sitting in front of computers for several hours and many are even glued to their mobile phones. The parents also have to sit along with the children and their office work is also getting hampered. There are many areas where internet speed is slow. With long periods of exposure to computers and mobile phones, children are also facing issues of irritation in the eyes and headaches,” said Vivek Tyagi, spokesperson of the Ghaziabad parents’ association.

“Generally, summer vacations are in May-June and there have been requests from all quarters to get the vacations preponed this year,” he added.

A majority of private schools are imparting online classes to students while the state government has directed for online studies in UP government schools during the ongoing lockdown period, imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease.

DISTRICT LIKELY TO BE MOVED TO ORANGE ZONE FROM RED IN A WEEK

Meanwhile, state officials said that the coronavirus situation in Ghaziabad is likely to improve in another week and the district is likely to be moved from the red zone at present to the orange zone if lockdown norms are strictly followed.

Sudhir Garg, UP’s principal secretary (forests), said that more strictness in terms of lockdown enforcement is required in some areas. Garg has been sent as a special officer to Ghaziabad for supervising various aspects of lockdown, isolation and quarantine centres, as well as enforcement activities taken up.

“We now have a unique trend in Ghaziabad where the number of active cases has fallen below the number of patients who got discharged from various hospitals. This trend is encouraging. It is our assessment that more reports are expected soon and the city may move from red zone to orange zone within a week. This has happened as a result of enforcement, lockdown of borders in order to avoid any medical infection and also due to support of residents,” Garg said.

Garg, along with other officers from the UP and Ghaziabad administration, inspected different areas in the district.

“There were instances where we saw people moving about in parks, defying lockdown norms. They will be dealt with strictly and surveillance in these areas will also be taken up with the help of drones. The parks need to be shut and no public should be allowed. We have also observed in some areas, including hotspots and containment zones that people are moving about in lanes and bylanes. If need be, we will get their houses sealed with wooden planks. Such people must understand that the lockdown will benefit them,” he added.

In Ghaziabad, there are 17 hotspot areas which include Vaishali, Masuri, Pasonda, Loni, Nandgram, Muradnagar, Indirapuram, Islam Nagar and Khoda under the red zone; Raj Nagar Extension, Duhai, Vasundhra, Bhopra, Skardi Greens (near NH-9) under the orange zone; and Kaushambi, Sahibabad and Mohan Nagar which have been moved to the green zone.

The red zones are areas where positive cases have been found in past 14 days while the orange zones are the ones where no new positive cases have emerged in the past 14 days. The green zones are the areas where no new cases have been found in the last 28 days.

ALL PARKS SEALED

On the directions of the principal secretary (forests), the Ghaziabad administration and the police on Monday afternoon directed for closure and sealing of all parks.

“We have directed the Ghaziabad development authority, the municipal-corporation and the UP Avas Vikas to lockdown parks in their jurisdiction areas. If anyone is found roaming around, legal action under IPC Section 188 will be initiated. The resident welfare associations (RWA) should also ensure that there is no movement of the public in parks inside their societies. If anyone is found violating orders, the concerned RWA will be held responsible,” district magistrate added.

“The SHOs of concerned areas have also been directed to ensure that all parks in their areas are closed and there is no movement of locals. The RWAs of highrises should also ensure lockdown directions,” said Kalanidhi Naithani, senior superintendent of police, Ghaziabad.

Till Sunday evening, the number of Covid-19 positive patients stood at 57 in Ghaziabad and 17 of these were already discharged from different hospitals. The health department on Monday said that 14 more patients will be discharged from the district hospitals in Muradnagar and Sahibabad.

“A total of 14 persons turned negative for Covid-19 on Monday and they will be discharged after police verification. All of them have received two successive negative reports. Several of these include people who have attended religious congregations and we need the police to verify if they have any cases or not. So, our active cases will be about 26 once the 14 patients move out after formalities. It is for the first time in the district that the number of active cases has gone down as compared to the number of patients getting discharged,” said Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer.