Government schools to have separate entry and exit points for students

In a move aimed at ramping up the school infrastructure to facilitate social distancing measures, the district secondary education department on Thursday directed all its education officers to share details about the government middle and senior secondary schools that do not have separate entry and exit gates on their premises.

HT Image

In a letter shared on Thursday, the department said that adequate arrangements were needed for schools to be reopened in line with directions from the ministry of human resource development (MHRD, recently renamed ministry of education). In order to avoid overcrowding in schools and enforce social distancing, the department was undertaking the construction of separate entry and exit gates in schools that do not already have the facilities, said the department.

Schools across the country have been shut since March, when the country went into a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19. Elementary education department director and special secretary, school education, Pardeep Kumar said that while the timeline and modalities of reopening would be decided by the MHRD, the state was undertaking preparatory steps.

“We are working on ramping up the infrastructure so that every school has more than two gates. We plan to have separate entry and exit gates so that crowding can be avoided whenever schools reopen. There shouldn’t be any congestion,” said Kumar. He added that the department wanted to be prepared with adequate infrastructure before directions are issued by the Centre regarding the reopening of schools. All districts in the state have been asked to share the necessary details by Monday.

Ritu Chowdhary, district project coordinator, said that the department was preparing ahead keeping in view the changing circumstances even as guidelines were awaited. “Schools need to have some facilities to ensure that students stay safe during the pandemic. Physical distancing has become extremely crucial and creating infrastructure to meet the new demands will take time. We are planning beforehand,” said Chowdhary.

Suman Sharma, principal of Government Model Senior Secondary School in Sector 4/7, said,“We have been asked to share details about the existing facilities so that adequate preparations can be done before schools reopen. All these efforts are aimed at complying with physical distancing norms,” said Sharma. The school has only one gate currently.