With government mulling to reopen schools in J&K from mid-June, it has asked the education department to ensure all safety measures to avoid spread of coronavirus among the students and teachers.
As per an official communiqué, the directors School Education Department Kashmir and Jammu have been asked to instruct the heads of government schools to provide “all necessary items” to the students in the schools.
“The students should be provided a pair of reusable masks and a pair of gloves and ensure availability of one thousand ml bulk hand sanitizers and 1200 ml liquid soap with disperser at every point in each government school,” reads a letter signed by director finance in School Education Department.
“Expenditure on this account shall be debited to Samagra Grants released to all institutions for day to day expenses,” it reads.
Earlier, the department was asked to start preparation for opening of the schools while carrying out fumigation and white washing all school buildings.
The educational institutions in J&K were closed due to coronavirus outbreak in the second week of March.
The General Administration Department (GAD) recently extended the closure of educational institutions to June 15 in view of the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown which has been extended to June 30.
Meanwhile, the parents said that sending kids to schools amid the prevailing crisis would be risky. “The department should take all stakeholders on board before taking any decision to reopen the schools. Any hasty decision can put lives of students at risk,” said Irfan Ahmad, a parent from Srinagar.
Director School Education Kashmir (DSEK) Muhammad Younis Malik said that it was just a part of preparation “so that if the schools reopen in future we are prepared.”
He added: “We have to be prepared to reopen the schools for which these protocols have to be maintained at school level. Earlier also, we carried fumigation and white wash of school buildings.” He said the arrangements have to be put in place for safety of students.