With schools set to reopen on January 1 after more than nine months in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, elaborate arrangements have been made to welcome students back in strict compliance with the safety protocols.
Schools were cleaned up and disinfected by the Fire and Rescue Services or local self-government institutions with PTA support. Masks, sanitisers, hand wash and thermal scanners too were ready.
General Education Secretary A. Shajahan said schools had drawn up their own plans to make arrangements for students to attend revision classes and practicals. Schools had also decided the focus subjects for each day and which teachers would be deployed for the day.
In schools that did not have teachers, measures such as redeployment of teachers, Samagra Shiksha’s teachers, and local teachers such as retired personnel would be roped in to meet emergency situations.
The General Education Department had a few days ago issued detailed safety guidelines such as limiting the student strength in a day to 50% in schools which have up to 300 students, 25% in schools that have more than this number, one bench for each students and no sharing of lunch or drinking water.
