Uttarakhand govt to take a call on making COVID testing mandatory in day schools
At present, COVID testing is mandatory for boarding schools in the state and not in case of the day schools.
Uttarakhand government is mulling whether to make COVID testing mandatory for students and teachers in those districts where more students or teachers test positive in the coming days. At present, COVID testing is mandatory for boarding schools in the state and not in case of the day schools.
The development took place after over 85 teachers tested positive for Covid-19 in the first week of school re-opening in Uttarakhand. This includes 80 teachers from four blocks of Pauri Garhwal district. The schools where teachers have tested positive have been closed for five days. On Wednesday also, two teachers had tested positive in Kumaon region’s Kaladhungi area. In another incident from Bageshwar district, a teacher from Government Inter College Kanda tested Covid-19 positive on Tuesday evening.
R Meenakshi Sundaram, secretary education department said so far COVID testing had been made compulsory for boarding schools in the state. “But now I am getting requests that COVID-testing be made compulsory for day schools also. The thing is that we have around one lakh students and teachers in day schools in class 10 and class 12. I am a little apprehensive about the availability of testing kits in the hilly districts. But I have decided to hold a discussion with the secretary health department and secretary disaster management on making COVID testing compulsory in day schools also. We will take stock of the situation in the districts in the coming days and take decentralised decisions based on the emerging situation in such areas in the coming days”, he said.
On whether Uttarakhand will be shut down for some period if more cases are reported, Sundaram said they will review the situation and take a decision accordingly. “Right now, we have no such plans”, he said.
Schools reopened in Uttarakhand for students of class 10 and 12 on November 2 after a gap of over seven months. The decision to open schools from November 2 was decided during the cabinet meeting on October 14.
Teachers testing positive has made parents concerned over the safety of their children going to schools.
Arif Khan, president National Association for Parents and Students Rights said the state government should not have opened schools so soon. “Right now areas are having a resurgence of cases. We had already conveyed to the state government that they should not hurry in opening the schools. Now imagine if over 80 teachers have tested positive, how many students must have come into contact with them. A teacher testing positive is more dangerous because he could be taking more than one class”, he said.
Khan said given these cases, the state government should shut down the schools in the state till the situation improves
On October 24, Uttarakhand government had released guidelines to be followed by the schools in the state to check spread of COVID-19. According to the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the state government, the schools will have to follow many conditions that include sanitisation of school premises before and after classes daily, arrangements be made in schools for sanitisers, handwash, thermal screening, first aid, if any student or teacher shows COVID symptoms, he or she be immediately sent home, social distancing be ensured while students come and leave school, wearing of face masks by all students and teachers be ensured.
The other main guidelines include classes be started in two shifts if social distancing cannot be ensured due to large number of students. Schools have been directed that they should seek written permission of the parents/ guardians before allowing students in the schools.
