Within days of reopening, 97 students positive in 2 HP schools

Within days of reopening, 97 students positive in 2 HP schools

Of These, 92 From A Tibetan School Are Asymptomatic

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Shimla:08.11.2020

Within days of schools reopening in Himachal Pradesh, 97 students in Mandi district tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday. Of these, 92 are from a Tibetan school in Sojha and five are from a government school in Kot. On Friday, 27 school teachers had tested positive in the district.

At the Tibetan school, all 92 students who tested positive are asymptomatic. However, as a precautionary measure, the entire campus is being turned into an isolation centre. As Tibetan schools are governed under the rules of Central Tibetan Administration, students of classes X and XII had reached the campus between October 26 and 31from Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Nepal.

Five students at Kot school have also tested positive. The HP government started regular classes for students of classes IX to XII on November 2. However, physical attendance is not must and those coming to school will do so only with the written consent of parents. Online education is also continuing for the students.

Mandi deputy commissioner Rugved Milind Thakur said all precautionary measures are being taken and students have been kept in isolation and under regular monitoring of doctors. If needed, they will be shifted to covid care centres and hospital for treatment. “We are keeping a close watch on schools and monitoring the situation on a daily basis,” he added.

Director of higher education, Amarjeet Kumar Sharma said the government had allowed private educational institutions to function with strict adherence to safety protocols. There are 3.25 lakh students in classes from IX to XII and only around 22% of them attended school on Saturday, he said. So far, only 30 students have tested positive for coronavirus in schools under the education department, he said. Tibetan schools are governed under the rules of Central Tibetan Administration, he added.

Maintaining that the figure is not alarming, he said of the 50,000 employees in the state, only 200 have tested positive so far. “It shows that the situation is very much under control and there is nothing to panic about. Still, we have directed all deputy directors to monitor educational institutes under their control and decide on closing them in case positive cases are detected to break the spread chain of coronavirus,” he added.

State education minister Govind Singh Thakur has also been admitted in Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, Shimla, for Covid treatment after he was detected with low oxygen level. He had tested positive a day after the cabinet decided to reopen schools and other educational institutions in the state.

Firefighters and locals attempt to douse a fire that broke out in a showroom at Lower Bazaar in Shimla on Saturday