How prepared are TS schools in wake of Center's Covid alert?

Hyderabad: Are government and private schools in Telangana prepared to meet any eventuality in the wake of the Centre sounding an alert to take necessary Covid precautions? While wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing were part of the highlights of the latest alert, it has also insisted on auditing the preparedness and medical infrastructure. Against this backdrop, it is to be questioned whether schools in Telangana are still in place or prepared to put in place the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which was earlier issued by the State School Education Department.

According to some teachers in government-run schools, as of now the schools are not fully equipped to implement the SOP and the reason behind is that several schools lack even scavengers to maintain day-to-day sanitation in schools.

Ahmed Khan, a government school teacher, said, "Almost all the government schools in the City are not completely adhering to several points of the SOPs. The main drawback is that the schools have been struggling with the lack of regular scavengers to maintain sanitation in the classrooms and school premises", and added that the issue of appointment of scavengers is pending for several years.

Recollecting, the second wave of Covid, he said, "We have struggled a lot and if such a situation arises once again then we are going to face the same problem".

Further, as per the previously issued SOP of the Education department, the GHMC sanitation workers must clean the school premises on a daily basis. But, the fact is that it had been followed only for a few days.

Ahmed said that presently they hire private persons to get the school premises cleaned but due to a fund crunch, it is not feasible.

Ravinder Rao, another government school teacher in Secunderabad, said, "Sanitisation apart, even social distancing would be an issue if a situation arises. We will also have to deal with the existing student strengths by changing the seating arrangement to maintain social distancing if the situation calls for doing so".

Taking a similar view, Shiva Ramkrishna, correspondent of Sai High School, New Bhoiguda, said that the school had never given up on the mask mandate. "The wearing of the masks by the students, teachers and staff continues. Though the state government has not issued any specific advisory, we have planned to enforce the previous SOPs," he said.

Meanwhile, Y Shekhar Rao, president of the Telangana Recognized School Management Association (TRSMA) said that as per the safety norms and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that were issued by the Education department during the second wave for tackling the pandemic are been followed by the member institutions of TRSMA. "Our buses and classrooms are getting sanitised daily. We have even connected with the local Urban Primary Health Centers or Basti Dawakhanas," he added.