It is not just students who have returned to school. Covid has reared its ugly head once more as schools reopen, with Ahmedabad’s Udgam School reporting two positive cases.
The Covid-19 cases were reported within two days of the school reopening after the summer break. Officials at Udgam said a student each from Class 9 and 7 tested positive for Covid on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
In the absence of specific written guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SoP) from the Gujarat government, the school has continued to summon all students from Classes 9 and 7.
School principals believe that now that Covid has re-entered the school system, it is time for the state to develop a SOP allowing the affected classes to be held online.
“We started classes on Monday. A student who attended the class later tested Covid positive on Tuesday. Another student in another class who attended school on Monday and Tuesday tested Covid positive on Wednesday,” said Udgam School for Children’s Executive Director Manan Choksi. He, however, said offline teaching continues in the affected classes as there is no guideline from the Gujarat Government about the same.
“Ideally, we would like to be allowed to take the affected classes online. Since the government has sought 100% classroom attendance and has not made any provision for online classes we have no other option but to call students to school despite the risk,” said Choksi.
Principals believe that safety of students should be a priority at such times. Mrugen Shah, principal of Prakash Higher Secondary School said as students below 12 years of age are unvaccinated, a plan needs to be chalked out for them in case they test Covid positive.
“I think we should have a hybrid model of education where half of the class is online, while the rest is offline. But schools should be allowed to hold 100% online classes if any student in a class tests positive. We do not want to violate norms by doing this on our own, but student safety should be our priority,” he said.
Nivedita Ganguly, principal of DAV International School said, “I don’t know about Covid’s severity. If medical experts feel that it is unsafe for children to be in school if their classmates have tested positive then a guideline should be issued accordingly.”