Coronavirus: Schools across states prepare to battle outbreak

NEW DELHI: Schools in several states have taken measures to avoid further spread of the coronavirus infection.

By Wednesday, five schools in Delhi- NCR were shut down after 40 students of a school in Noida were placed in isolation on Tuesday. They had come into contact with a patient who later tested positive for CoVID-19. The contact took place at a party.

Circulars and sanitizers

Ved Vyasa DAV Public School in Vikas Puri is educating the parents on keeping themselves and the children safe from the disease. “The aim is not to create panic”, said the principal, Shalini Arora.

Sanitizers will be placed in classrooms and at strategic points in the buildings. She further added: “We are concentrating on personal hygiene because school is not the only place, they are visiting malls, riding metros, etc. We may look at stringent measures like closing schools depending on the situation.”

Ameeta Mohan, principal, Amity International School, Pushp Vihar said that multiple circulars have been issued since February 12. “We have sanitized the schools and fumigated each classroom. We have also sent circulars on the Do’s and Don’ts to be practised along with the World Health Organization (WHO) link about the virus,” Mohan said.

“We have also advised parents to not take children to crowded places. Of course, we can’t stop them from taking the children outside, we can only advise and it is up to the parents to take a decision,” she added.

Shut down

Others have taken the more drastic measure of shutting schools altogether as they prepare. Shiv Nadar School in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, has shut down till March 9 to sanitize the school. “The school officials said that they will be following whatever the WHO has prescribed, said Ajay Kumar, a parent. “So, there will be some fumigation, cleaning the bathrooms, etc. In addition, they will be keeping hand sanitizers in all the rooms and they will also counsel every kid. They will also give individual counselling for every kid,” Kumar added.

Meanwhile, the Indo Asian News Service reported that the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) has temporarily shut all its schools as a precautionary measure. The CTA runs 71 institutions across the country.

In Karnataka, the government on February 29 had issued a circular directing schools to grant leave to students or staff suffering from cold or fever. The circular asked school authorities to “ensure that students/teachers or any other staff with signs of fever cold and upper respiratory tract infections do not visit school do not attend school until symptoms subside.” It also asks students with symptoms to be “sent home” and or to “isolate [them] in the hostel”.

As Careers360 earlier reported, another Noida school was shut to be “sanitised” on Tuesday.

Use Swachh Bharat campaign

So far, there have been 28 positive cases of Coronavirus in India.

Priya Balasubramanium, senior public health scientist at Public Health Foundation of India emphasized on more education on how the virus is spread.

“If a child is sick, then do not send them to school, if a parent is unwell then wear a mask and also handwashing and hygiene practices. As long as the children are instructed to wash their hands and be careful about keeping them safe. It will help contain some of the spread of the infection.” she said.

Balasubramaniam believes that incorporating the coronavirus campaign with that of the Swachh Bharat Campaign is the best way to go forward.

“In terms of the poorer neighbourhoods and also the shanty towns full of migrant workers. I think what is needed now is to lift the Coronavirus campaign with the Swachh Bharat Campaign which is a pan-India campaign,” she said.

“If they extend this campaign to promote awareness about the Coronavirus to slum children and as well as extend this to Swachh Bharat Campaign which is already been introduced in government schools to include distribution of masks for those children who are unwell,” she added.

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