Though India is reporting a reduced number of new covid cases since the past couple of weeks, the question remains if the situation is safe enough to reopen schools. This is looming for months now while the government hasn’t taken a decision on the matter yet, hinting at the need for more data to make a conclusion.
After making a global record of 4.14 new cases on May 7th, the third wave is not far, experts warned.
States are unlocking the curfews and restrictions placed to stimulate a drop in cases, creating a buzz about any announcement on school reopening. Responding to the concerns, NITI Aayog’s Dr VK Paul said on Friday, “A lot of things need to be considered while deciding on the reopening schools. This is a question that keeps coming up.”
The statement was made during a press meet of the Health Ministry. In the meeting, he explained that while many factors are to be considered prior to such a decision. Increased coverage of vaccination, including that of teachers, with proper implementation of covid rules, social distancing, mask-wearing, etc will pull us closer to take this step, he said.
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Stressing on the events that occurred in other countries due to the reopening of schools, Dr Paul said, “But we should also remember that in many countries schools reopened then outbreaks were reported and they had to shut them down again. We don’t want to put our children and teachers in that situation unless we have more confidence that the pandemic won’t harm us. Discussion on reopening of schools remains a part of the larger discourse but information that sero prevalence remain equal among children will be useful data.”
Taking into consideration the spread of covid-19 in the country, the CBSE board exams for Class 12 were cancelled earlier this month. Prime Minister’s office had released a statement reading, “The health and safety of our students is of utmost importance and there will be no compromise on this aspect.”
As an alternative to the examinations, the CBSE board said on Friday that it is creating a system to help schools in finalizing the Class 12 results. It also told schools to keep students’ records ready for the same.
