Samrala teacher’s infection report leaves parents jittery

At the Multipurpose school, which opened on Wednesday, only 80 students turned up even as 280 parents gave consent earlier.

As many as 80 students showed up at Government Senior Secondary School, Multipurpose, as it re-opened on Wednesday, after hiatus of seven months.

Students undergoing thermal screening outside Government Senior Secondary School, Multipurpose, on Shingar Cinema Road in Ludhiana on Wednesday. (Harsimar Pal Singh/HT)

As per sources, more than 280 parents had given written consent to send their wards to the school. But after a teacher of a government school in Samrala tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, many students stayed at home as parents were not ready to send their children to school.

Around 60 students of Classes 11 and 12 who have opted for the humanities and science stream attended school in the morning shift from 8.30 am to 11.30 am. The staff was deputed to conduct the thermal screening of students at the entry point. The school followed Covid guidelines and SOPs issued by the government.

While in the afternoon shift, only 20 students of Classes 9, 10, as well as, those who have opted for vocational and commerce stream attended the school from 12.30 pm to 3.30 pm.

School principal, Navdeep Romana said, “We took all the safety measures and asked students and staff to sanitise their hands frequently. Students were asked not to remove masks and maintain social distancing at all times.”

Other government schools in the district reopened for Classes 9 to 12 on October 19 after receiving orders from the state education department.

Prince Singh, a Class 11 student, said, “I was attending online classes for the last five months and on Wednesday I got the chance to attend classes in person. Teachers cleared the doubts of students and all the precautions were put in place in the school.”