The members of Ghaziabad Parents’ Association (GPA) have written to the District Magistrate (DM) to suspend reopening of schools till Sept 30 due to high incidence of Coronavirus cases in the district.
In an online survey conducted by the association, 97 per cent of the parents who participated said that they are not in favour of reopening the schools in July. The survey had 2,106 responses about the issue, the association said.
Ghaziabad has witnessed a sudden spurt in COVID-19 cases this month. In a period of twenty days since June 1, the district has added to its tally 548 positive cases & 38 deaths. Overall, the total positive cases stood at 853 till June 20, which included 42 deaths.
Seema Tyagi, President of Ghaziabad Parents’ Association said that “The parents are alarmed by the situation. So, we have written to the district magistrate not to reopen schools till September 30. The Covid-19 cases are on the rise & it will be difficult to manage situation in schools with thousands of children studying together. The online survey had a question whether the schools should reopen in July or not. About 97% of the respondents opposed the idea".
Seema Tyagi said that it wont be practically possible for schools to ensure that children maintain social distancing, & don’t share food, among other things. “Above all, we don’t have a vaccine yet to deal with Covid-19. In case children get infected, it will be very difficult to keep them in isolation. The monsoon season is approaching & it brings in a number of viral diseases,” she added.
In its Unlock 1.0 guidelines issued on May 30, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had said that schools, colleges, educational institutions, etc will be reopened after consultations with states & Union Territories in July. State Govts & UT administrations may hold consultations at the institution level with parents & other stakeholders, the ministry had said in a statement.
When asked, Ghaziabad District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said he has been receiving representations from parents for not allowing opening of schools.
The District Magistrate said that “We will soon hold a review meeting & write to the state government about the issues concerning parents. It will be an overall decision which will be taken up by the state government".
Further, the reopening of colleges will also be a tricky situation for Ghaziabad authorities as about thirteen different colleges in the district have been proposed to have COVID care facilities as part of state government’s plan to deal with rising number of cases. In Ghaziabad, the health department has proposed 4,000 Covid beds at 13 colleges.
In a related case, the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court on June 15 ordered the State Govt to take a decision in larger public interest. The Court’s decision arrived on a plea seeking closure of schools up to class 12 till a single patient of Covid-19 remains or its vaccine comes in the market.
The directions were issued by the Bench of Justice Devendra Kumar Updhyay & Justice Narendra Kumar on a writ petition filed by Anuj Nishad, a student.
“With regard to the prayer made in this writ petition, this court is clearly of the opinion that the issue raised herein should be considered by the government itself. Accordingly, we direct the state government to consider the grievance raised in this writ petition & take a decision thereon,” the Court had said in its order.
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