The reopening of public schools in Andhra Pradesh as of Monday has caused a wave of panic among teachers and students, with the appearance of Covid-19 cases in various parts of the state.
In the first phase, the government has opened schools for classes 9 and 10 on alternate days, but only for half a day. According to official figures, 98.84% of the schools were opened and 87.78% of the teachers attended the classes.
However, student attendance did not live up to expectations. Only 39.62% of Class 9 students and 43.65% of Class 10 students attended school in the first three days.
What caused concern to teachers and students is the appearance of Covid-19 cases among teachers and students, when health department officials conducted tests on them shortly after the opening of classes, according to government instructions.
According to School Education Department officials, of the 1,89,148 teachers who showed up at schools in the past three days, 70,790 teachers have been tested so far and 829 have tested positive for Covid-19.
Likewise, 95,763 students in grades 9 and 10 were tested, out of the 3.92,000 students who attended classes in the last three days. Of these, 575 students tested positive.
“This is not a very alarming number and most of them are asymptomatic. They were immediately quarantined according to health protocol and their condition is being monitored regularly, ”School Education Commissioner V Chinna Veerabhadrudu told the Hindustan Times.
He said the highest number of cases arose in the West Godavari district, where 262 of the 41,000 teachers tested positive. In Visakhapatnam, 4,527 teachers were tested and of them 52 tested positive on Wednesday, he said.
Similar cases of several teachers and students contracting coronavirus were reported in the districts of Guntur, Chittoor, Nellore, and East Godavari.
“There is nothing to panic for teachers and students, as the percentage of positive cases is far below normal compared to positive cases statewide. Since the department is taking all precautions, we are confident that the number of positive cases will gradually decrease, ”Veerabhadrudu said.
He said the decision to reopen schools was made with the loss of more than four months this academic year and poor students in mind. “While private schools have been conducting at least online classes, we wanted to see that public school students, who mostly come from the poorest sections, should not be left behind,” the commissioner said.
However, the emergence of Covid-19 cases about the reopening of schools has caused panic among teachers. “There are no precautionary measures in many schools, such as the provision of disinfectants in all classes, enough water to wash hands periodically, and adequate hygiene in the kitchens where noon meals are cooked and served. No money was given to schools to take these measures, ”said Shaik Sabjee, president of the United Federation of Teachers.
He said that although schools were open to students once every other day and classes were only half a day long, teachers were asked to attend regularly. “There is every possibility of teachers contracting the virus during trips to schools and interacting with students and parents,” Sabjee said.
He said the situation would be worse if upper elementary schools and elementary schools were to reopen from November 23 and December 14, respectively, because students in that age group were more vulnerable.
Telugu Desam Party lawmaker Anagani Satyaprasad wrote to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday to close the reopened schools immediately after several Covid-19 cases emerged among teachers and students. Instead, the government could continue teaching online for students, as was being done in several other states.
The CPI secretary of state, P Ramakrishna, also demanded that the government reconsider the continuity of schools in the wake of the pandemic. “Especially in the interior areas and tribal areas, it is very difficult to monitor the health conditions of students and teachers,” he said.
.
