Many schools choose to shut down

“We took the decision considering the parents’ apprehension,” said officiating principal Preeti Khanna. “We conducted a health check-up of our students by a team of private doctors on Tuesday and Wednesday and took the decision to close the school just to be cautious,” principal Jessica Simoes said.

Delhi Public School in Kondhwa will be shut till Monday for fumigation. “It takes two days for fumigation — one for the actual process and another for airing and cleaning. The PMC officials will fumigate the school on Friday and Saturday,” said principal Neelam Chakrabarty.

Ahilyadevi School in Shaniwar Peth has postponed its unit test by at least a week. “We had scheduled the test on August 20,” said principal Tilottama Reddy.

The Bishops Schools at Camp,Kalyaninagar and Undri have cancelled their first terminal examinations. “We shall now revert this year to having only two examinations for the entire year — in December 2009 and the finals,in March 2010,” said a circular on its website.

The Pune Municipal Corporation has maintained that schools that have at least a case of swine flu must shut that particular class for a week and the school should be shut only if there are more cases. “However,we have no objection against schools that have voluntarily decided to close down,” said PMC additional commissioner M S Devnikar,who is also in charge of the committee that takes a call on whether to close a school or not.

Meanwhile,the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) has decided to shut its nine aided schools till August 14 as well as to shut commercial establishments and restaurants within its jurisdiction by 9 pm as a measure to contain the spread of H1N1 virus.

D K Malik,PCB chief executive officer,said the health department has almost completed fumigation of schools in the vicinity. A total of 35 schools operate under the cantonment jurisdiction. Malik said the state authorities will decide on closure of private schools.

2 more students test positive

Two H1N1 cases — a Class VII student of Loyola School,Pashan,and a third-year BBA student of MIT School of Management (MITSOM),Paud Road — were detected on Thursday. Loyola School and the third-year BBA class at MITSOM will be shut down for a week.

According to Loyola School principal Fr James Thorat,the parents of the boy informed the school authorities on Wednesday night that their son had tested positive for swine flu and has been admitted to Aundh Chest Hospital. “I talked to the parents myself and then decided,in consultation with the PMC,to close the school till Sunday,” he said.

Thorat said the student who stays in Panchvati had not been coming to the school since July 31.

Brigadier R K Bhatia,director of MITSOM,said the third- year BBA class would remain shut for a week. “Even after reopening,only those students who are fine and healthy have been asked to come to college.”