• Schools to seek parental consent
• Hostels to remain closed
Dimapur, February 25 (MExN): Parental consent will be required to send children in the pre-primary sections to attend offline or physical classes from March 1, the Nagaland Home Department informed on Friday.
Permitting the reopening of pre-primary sections in the Schools in Nagaland, Chairperson of the State Executive Committee and Chief Secretary J Alam issued an order through the state DIPR, stating that schools would have to adhere to the 50% occupancy model to reopen the pre-primary sections following an alternate day routine.
“Schools shall seek prior consent of the parents concerned for the attendance of any child/student for the physical/offline classes, and for those children/students the consent is not given, the present system of online teaching by the Schools for such child/student shall be continued,” the order also stated.
However, hostels for pre-primary sections, if existing in any school, will remain closed.
Along with this, it said that all the teachers and non-teaching staff of the School concerned being fully vaccinated (taken both the doses) against COVID-19 or produce negative COVID-19 test reports taken either through RT-PCR, TrueNat, or CBNAAT once in every 15 days. The re-opening of any School would further be subject to adherence to all the provisions of the Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs), it added.
As per the SOPs which outlined various generic precautionary measures to be adopted in order to prevent spread of COVID-19 when the schools resume stipulated that schools should submit the list of all the teaching/non-teaching staff along with the details of the vaccination status or testing status as well as all the arrangements being made for ensuring adherence to the provisions of this SOPs to the respective District Task Force (DTF) through the District Education Officer.
The DTF may carry out verifications as considered necessary, and only on being satisfied of the overall preparedness of the school concerned, may grant permission for the physical/offline classes, it added.
It also said that schools will have to continue with the present system of online teaching while making preparations and awaiting clearance from the DTF for re-opening for conduct of the physical/offline classes.
In terms of generic preventive measures, it directed schools to follow social distancing measures, wearing of face masks as prescribed by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, frequent hand washing and sanitization of school premises, and other COVID-19 appropriate behaviours prescribed for all educational institutions.
The order also directed schools to ensure that regular counseling is done for students and teachers reporting mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. It is advisable that teachers, school counselors and school health workers should work in unison to ensure emotional safety of students, it added.
Meanwhile, the order also directed schools to immediately inform the nearest medical facility (hospital/clinic) or call the State or District Helpline in case any student, teacher or any personnel related to the school develops symptoms.
A risk assessment shall be undertaken by the District Task Force and accordingly further action should be initiated regarding management of case, their contacts and need for disinfection. If there are one or two cases reported, the disinfection procedure will be limited to places/areas occupied and visited by the patient in past 48 hours and work can be resumed after disinfection as per laid down protocol. In case of lager numbers of cases being reported at the school, the whole block or building, as the case may be, should be disinfected, it said.
It also cautioned that any violation of the provisions of the SOPs would attract action against the management of the school or institution, as per legal provisions.
