COVID-19 scare|Classes for KG to 5th postponed till March 15

The Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) has postponed the reopening of schools for primary classes till March 15 in view of COVID-19 threat.

An order in this regard was issued by the DSEK on Saturday. However the offline classes shall resume for classes 6th to 8th from Monday (March 8).

   

“It is hereby ordered that the government and recognized private schools shall open physically in a staggered manner for academic activities. The classes for 6th to 8th class students will resume from March 8 while the offline classes for K.G to class 5th will resume from March 15,” the order reads.

The decision comes in the wake of the surge in COVID-19 cases within the first week of reopening of schools. The physical classes for 9th to 12th class students resumed on March 1.

Director, School Education Kashmir (DSEK), Muhammad Younis Malik said the decision was taken to ensure staggered attendance of students and to maintain social distancing inside the school premises which will prevent spread of the coronavirus.

He said that strict directions had been passed to the institutions to follow COVID-19 SOPs in letter and spirit.

This newspaper has already reported about the violation of COVID-19 guidelines in the schools across Kashmir. Against this backdrop, the school education department has constituted 4-tier monitoring teams to monitor adherence to Covid19 SOPs and preparedness in government and private schools.

As per DSEK orders, the teams will work at divisional, district, zonal and cluster-levels to ensure proper adherence to SOPs by all government and private schools. Also, the divisional commissioner Kashmir, Pandurang Kondbarao Pole, on Friday asked all the deputy commissioners to ensure rapid covid19 tests for students, teachers in the schools to prevent spread of the virus.

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