E-Paper
Six more teachers in Ludhiana test positive for Covid-19
Five of them are master cadre teachers of Government Senior Secondary School, Sekhewal, who were found infected during the health department’s mammoth testing drive initiated in government schools of the district.
Six more teachers tested positive for Covid-19 in the district on Monday. Five of them are master cadre teachers of Government Senior Secondary School, Sekhewal, who were found infected during the health department’s mammoth testing drive initiated in government schools of the district.
The sixth is a teacher from the Government Senior Secondary School, Chaunta, who had got herself tested after she developed Covid-19 symptoms.
GSSS, Chaunta, principal Rooma Rani said the school premises has been sanitised but the school has not yet been closed. “We have a strength of 750 students and 550 have been attending school after the state education department allowed schools to reopen. We have 22 teachers and all of them will go for testing on Tuesday. We have not closed the school but have sanitised the school premises. Our students and teachers are following distancing and mask norms,” she said.
From the Sekhewal school, the health department team had collected 51 samples, including those of Class-IV employees and mid-day meal workers, on February 6 as part of its drive. The department started the drive after more than 40 teaching and non-teaching staff and 27 students of eight government schools in the district tested positive in the last one month.
GSSS Sekhewal principal Naresh Kumar said all infected teachers have been sent home and asked to remain in isolation. The principal added that samples of 250 students and four more teachers were collected from the school on Monday. “Though there was some hesitancy among students and teachers, we counselled them and told them how early detection can help control the spread. More students will be tested on Tuesday,” Kumar added.
At Government Primary School, Dashmesh A, where one teacher had tested positive last week, 12 teachers got themselves tested on Monday. The school has been closed as a precautionary measure and the decision on reopening the school will be taken once the results of the other teachers are received.
District education officer, elementary-cum-secondary Rajinder Kaur has sent a voice message to all school principals to cooperate with the health department teams visiting the schools to take Covid-19 test samples.
Schools infected so far
In January this year, 14 teachers, 27 students and two of their contacts tested positive at Government Senior Secondary School, Galib Kalan. A mathematics teacher of the school later tested positive.
At Government Senior Secondary School, Gidderwindi, school principal Harpreet Singh tested positive on January 23 following which all 25 teachers of the school got themselves tested. Four teachers were found infected and sent into isolation.
A Punjabi mistress of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Dakha, and her husband, who teaches at Government High School, Mundani, also tested positive. The Punjabi mistress was on leave since January 23 and had informed the school authorities that she was not feeling well. The teacher get herself tested for Covid-19 and received the report, confirming the infection, on January 29.
A teacher of Government Senior Secondary School, Mundian Kalan, tested positive for Covid-19 on January 30 and then on February 5, two more teachers got infected with the virus. The infected teachers and their family members have been sent into isolation and given quarantine leave.
