BMC asks schools to finish preparations, staff vaccination

The guidelines mandate teachers and school staff, including bus drivers, volunteers are fully vaccinated before joining duty.

According to data from the BMC, the staff strength of the BMC’s education department and civic-run schools, including teachers is 60,000. Of which, 82 per cent are fully vaccinated.

BMC said that while it is ensuring that all the staffers are fully vaccinated at the earliest many parents are undecided over sending their children to schools amid the Omicron threat. It has also asked the schools to hold online parent-teacher conferences to address parents’ concerns.

There are over 10.50 lakh students in Classes 1 to 7 in the 3,420 civic-run and private schools in the city. Of which, 2.92 lakh students are enrolled in civic-run schools.

Meanwhile, the BMC’s education department said that all SOPs issued by the state government will be followed. The department has asked the school administration to finish all the preparation in the next 14 days and submit a report.

In September, ahead of school reopening for Classes 8 to 12, the BMC held a special drive for teachers in the city. Amid concern over the Omicron variant, the BMC postponed the reopening of schools to December 15. Schools were previously scheduled to reopen on December 1.