A teacher conducting classes at a school in Nagaland after schools resumed with COVID-19 protocols. (Morung File Photo)
Most schools either undecided or waiting for State guidance
Vishü Rita Krocha
Kohima | April 26
In the light of COVID-19 positive cases being reported among students and teachers in Nagaland, some educational institutions are completely going online while others will either be taking a call in the next couple of days or wait for the government directive.
Reported cases from educational institutions include a student of Sakus Mission College Dimapur, four teachers and a student of Mezhür Higher Secondary School, Kohima, four students of Dimapur Government College, one from Patkai Christian College, and three students and a warden from Maple Tree School, Dimapur respectively.
Administrator of Hope Academy Dimapur, Sashila Ozukum told The Morung Express that “with the surge in COVID-19 cases, I just took a call today and in consultation with the parents, who were also of the opinion that the school for classes 9 and above should be closed for some time. So, from today, the entire school is online.” She emphasized that the safety of the children is more important. “I just took this decision and we decided we will close for some time, then see the situation and take a call accordingly,” she added.
Meanwhile, Maple Tree School, Dimapur was yet to resume physical classes for students up to class 8, while physical classes for class 9 and above were conducted till last Friday and are now being held online. “However, we have some of the students in the hostel,” the school’s Director Sashikala Imchen informed.
Speaking in reference to the three students who tested positive, she said, “we require everyone to do a test and only after testing negative, we admit them to the hostel. We took all care but unfortunately, maybe they must have got tested and had a contact before coming in.” Few students, she said, were complaining that they were not feeling well. They were immediately isolated and kept in separate rooms and were sent for testing this morning. “Unfortunately, the three students who are all asymptomatic tested positive,” she said.
“We are keeping them in hostel and observing them. It is more risky to send them out,” she further stated. The rest of the hostellers will be tested tomorrow morning, she stated, while expressing reluctance to release them before they are tested negative. “It’s very risky otherwise. We thought it would be more responsible to test everyone and they can go home only when they are tested negative. Those are the steps we are taking.”
“Otherwise everyone is calm, we are just handling it calmly. It is better to remain calm and handle these things without creating an alarm. The parents are also very supportive,” she also added.
Wungchipem Raman, Associate Director of Mount Hermon Higher Secondary School, Kohima expressed that “we want to be united with other schools and also follow government protocols,” while putting across that “we are actually very torn.” With the school also situated in a neighbourhood, he said, “we want to be kind to our neighbours. If anything happens right now—worst case scenario— I don’t think they have the mental capacity to take care of that. We will just be crippled so we are considering if it would be a good decision to shut down the school.”
“The next 2-3 days are going to be very crucial for us to make a decision,” he added.
In the meantime, he also expressed concern that their class 11 batch has not had any physical classes since last year till the last couple of months. “They are now in Class 12 and just picking up momentum, we don’t want to drop that as well. To be very honest, students are not very sincere with their online classes and teachers also perform better in physical classes. Taking into consideration, the pros and cons towards shutting the school down, we want to be mindful of our employees because they look up to us to make the right decision and the parents and students as well,” he related.
Kohima Science College (Autonomous) Jotsoma is following the government order and has reduced the number of students to 50% (an average of 25 students in each class) for physical classes especially for practical classes which are difficult to do online and theory classes that really need offline classes.
However, Principal of the college, Dr Lily Sema maintained that “whatever precautions that we may take, there is absolutely no way that we can maintain the SOP in an institution.” She also impressed upon that the possibility is very high for more COVID-19 positive cases if random testing is done in any institution.
She also informed that the Principals’ Association had an executive meeting on April 26, wherein many colleges may go completely online in a few days’ time. But pointing out that “we do need the government’s intervention and the opinion of Nagaland University as most colleges are under NU except for few autonomous colleges,” she said the Principals Association will be writing to the Department of Higher Education and the Vice Chancellor in this regard.
Even if we completely close down the offline classes and go online, she said it is important to have some time for the students in the hostels to go back to their respective places. “Because anytime the lockdown comes and the students are stranded, there is going to be big chaos, and the responsibility will be too big for the authority to manage.” Apart from 5 college hostels, there are several private hostels. The college enrolment is close to 2,000 students with more than half of them in the campus, either renting private houses or staying in hostels.
Similarly, about 2,000 students of St Joseph’s College (Autonomous), Jakhama live on campus. The college has one boys’ hostel and three girls’ hostel apart from 65 private hostels in the area.
Principal of the College, Fr George Keduolhou informed that all the classes for Arts Stream have gone online and it is only the Science students who attend college for practical classes. These classes have an average of about 15-20 students. In view of the COVID surge, he also highlighted that they have cancelled their Sunday services and although there are students in the hostel, “even for meals, they don’t eat together,” he said.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Shanavas C, IAS, Principal Director for School Education said, “for now, the government has closed down classes from 1 to 8, and that stands.” “The school that has reported positive cases has suspended the classes for the time being and taking disinfecting measures,” he informed.
