The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced on Wednesday that all Mumbai schools for classes 8 to 12 will reopen on October 4 with all COVID-19 regulations in place.
According to the Mayor Kishori Pednekar's instructions, each class will have a maximum of 50 students and only one kid will sit on a single bench. Students have also been asked to come on different days. Pednekar went on to explain the Covid-19 protocol and how all schools must be connected to nearby Covid centers. Schools will provide masks and sanitizers, but parents must ensure that one extra mask and at least a small bottle of sanitizer are there in the student's bag.
The state education minister had announced last week that local governments, collectors, and the commissioner had been instructed to follow stringent standard operating procedures (SoPs).
Meanwhile, the Free Press Journal spoke to a few school authorities regarding the reopening of the schools in Mumbai. We sought to understand their perspective and ideas when it comes to following the protocols as they reopen.
EuroSchool in Undri, Pune has come up with a resumption action plan along with a task force as they look forward to reopening the school for children in accordance with the regulations laid down by the state government.
Seema Bahukhandi, the school principal, told the Free Press Journal, “We will be following partial resumption/ school resumption only after receiving a formal directive from the state government. All main contact points and floors will have sanitizer booths installed."
"We have mandatory temperature checks and sanitization before entering the school premises and we also take a health declaration from any visitor who enters our premises. Masks are mandatory to enter the premises. Arrangements have been made in the school to maintain social distancing among students, staff & parents coming to school as well. We have installed battery-operated sprayers on our school buses to ensure thorough sanitization. Attendants have been trained to ensure temperature checks for all onboard," she added.
"We have tied up with Hi Care and Diversity one of the best facility management firms who will provide disinfection and sanitization services to the school premises. They will also provide world-class cleaning materials to maintain the highest standard of hygiene and cleanliness in the school," Bahukhandi said.
She said common areas in the school premises have distance markers/ floor markings to ensure distance is maintained among students and staff at all times. Floor marking provisions have been made in the passages and elevators as well. Mask disposal provisions have been made across the school premises with adequate posters and banners to reinforce safety procedures and policies, the principal said.
"The management has put in place a robust health check mechanism for all staff/teachers and students. All people entering the school premises will be thoroughly checked. Temperature screen through IR cameras and IR thermometers, periodical self-health declaration before resumption and regularly thereafter will be done as well," Bahukhandi further said.
Orchids- The International School in Mumbai is ready to welcome their students for physical classes. The school has already started the preparations by also ensuring to follow all the safety protocols suggested by the health authorities.
“Physical and online classes will be conducted simultaneously. However, we have exams till the second week of October that will be held online. So, as per the schedule, we will resume our physical classes at the end of October or after Diwali. We are waiting for the final nod from our management and will act accordingly. We had witnessed some dilemmas amongst the parents in our Bangalore and Hyderabad branches about the physical classes. We would like to assure the parents and our staff that all the health precautions are in place and we are fully prepared before we open our gates for our students”, said Dr.Kavita Nagpal, school Principal.
Mrs. Manju Mishra, Principal of Saraswati Vidyalaya High school and Junior College, Thane said, “We had a meeting conducted wherein we discussed on how to go about things as we prepare to reopen. However we have decided to start with classes 10 and 12 only, by abiding with all the state guidelines to ensure maximum safety of our students. There will be specific timings allotted to both classes, dividing the students so that the classes don’t get crowded. The students will be assigned online and offline classes alternately according to roll numbers, but with an official letter of consent from the parents stating that they will ensure complete safety of the child when not in school premises. All the Covid protocols including temperature checking and social distancing will be followed strictly. We have also established a special medical team for better safety that will be fully functioning at all times in the school”.
