Schools in Noida, Ghaziabad ring Covid alarm but ones in Delhi say won’t shut

Multiple school administrators say that in case their students test positive, they will avoid shutting down the entire school.

“We have our protocol in place. In fact, we have had one class VIII child develop a fever while in school. So if a child starts showing any symptoms while in school, we have a quarantine zone where the child can be isolated and examined by the school nurse. We will contact and inform the parents and also tell them to get necessary tests done. By the time the parents come, we will remove the other children of the section from the area and sanitise the classroom. If the child tests positive, we may conduct online classes for two days for the particular section only to see if anyone develops symptoms… Seeing what is happening in Noida and Ghaziabad, we have been very careful with precautions such as masking and sanitising,” said Sudha Acharya, principal, ITL Public School.

Suruchi Gandhi, principal, Bal Bharti Public School Sector 12 in Dwarka, echoed this. “In Delhi, everything is opened and even masks are no longer necessary, but we insist on masks, washing hands before eating, and dissuade students from shaking or holding hands. Since school is in full strength, distancing is not really possible. In the event of a Covid case, parents of the section have to be informed and can be cautioned to watch out for symptoms in their children, and the classroom can be sanitised. Shutting the whole school does not make sense,” she said.

Jyoti Arora, principal, Mount Abu Public School, said she “is not in favour of closing down the entire school” and thinks it is more practical to cordon off that particular class or block for a few days.

In government schools as well, school heads seem to be in favour of not disrupting offline schooling. “If anyone develops a cough or fever, we can inform parents and isolate them in the medical room in the meantime. We’ll just be monitoring to see if there’s any other child also showing symptoms. A normal situation has been declared in schools with no online classes,” said Sarvodaya Vidyalaya Rohini Sector 21 head Sukhbir Singh Yadav.