Telangana: Teachers at a loss over sanitation issue

Lakdikapul: Teacher unions which had demanded for physical reopening of schools for Classes VI to VIII and succeeded are now taking up a tricky situation with the government.

According to the SED sources, in all there are about 20,324 schools functioning under government, private, welfare managements in the State. To implement the Covid-19 guidelines issued and to maintain prescribed sanitation standards, it is estimated that it would require around 1 lakh man-hours and the number of sanitation workers needed to execute the job comes to about 11,000 sanitation workers.

Taken aback by the sheer number of man-hours needed to implement the guidelines issued by the school education department, Telangana State United Teachers Federation (TSUTF) feels the government should not have allowed resumption of classes in such a tearing hurry, without ensuring adequate manpower to ensure hygiene and sanitation in schools.

Chava Ravi, the general secretary of TSTUF, said that they pressed for physical classrooms as government school students were facing major challenges in accessing online education. The demand was in the interests of government children. "But, the Sstate government favoured private school teachers and schools have been reopened, keeping ensuing MLC elections in mind. Now that we have opened the schools, we're confused about how to maintain sanitation as the strength has increased in schools. Classes are being sanitised in 10 to 15 minutes by GHMC, but the time given for sanitation should be more than 20 minutes."

Maintaining strict adherence to Covid guidelines on hygiene and sanitation is placing a great burden on the teachers due to lack of sanitation staff in such a mammoth strength for the task in schools now, added the union representative.