Safety plan in place in city schools

Arrangements made in tune with student strength and available facilities

As students appearing for public examinations make their way to schools on Friday after months of digital classes, schools in the city geared up to welcome them, albeit in limited numbers and for fewer hours.

Both the General Education and Health departments have issued detailed guidelines for safety of students, teachers, and other staff. Schools had earlier been asked to prepare detailed plans taking into account student strength and facilities to fix the number of students who could come to school on a day. Class 10 and 12 teachers have been attending school since December 17 to help with exam preparation and that of school plans.

At Government Tamil HSS, Chala, which has 161 students across three Plus Two batches and 15 students in class 10, disinfection had been completed, Principal Preetha K.L. said.

In the first week, 10 students from each Plus Two batch would attend the morning session and another 10 the afternoon session. In the second week, the plan is to hike the number of students to 30. However, only 15 students would be seated in a classroom.

Parents’ consent letters

As the school did not have its own transport, parents had been asked to drop off their wards. Parental consent letters were mandatory, she said.

Class PTAs too had been held online to communicate with parents all arrangements in place for student safety. However, not all parents had attended the meets, she said.

Karthika Thirunal Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Manacaud, has a total of 380 Plus Two students in six batches. As per the General Education Department guidelines, in schools where the student strength in these classes exceeds 300, only 25% students can come to school at a time. Accordingly, 15 students from each batch would attend the morning session, and a similar number the afternoon session. The next day, the remaining students would reach school. The school hoped to increase the numbers after a review in the second week, said Principal Ajith Kumar S.

At SMV school, Thampanoor, which has 480 Plus Two students across eight batches, 15 students from each batch would attend the morning session and an equal number the afternoon session on a day. In class 10, 10 students each would attend the morning and afternoon sessions on a day.

Masks available

Though students had been asked to bring masks, nearly 450 masks had been made available by the Samagra Shiksha’s Thiruvananthapuram North urban resource centre for distribution among students who did not bring them, said Principal Vasanthakumari.