School and college managements have asked students to produce negative RT-PCR certificates when they return to offline classes after their Christmas break.
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While some managements have made this an advisory, others have made this mandatory with the rise in the number of Omicron cases in the State.
School management members said this was also because many students and their families have travelled and gone to different parts of the country for vacation.
Mansoor Ali Khan, member, board of management, Delhi Public Group of Schools, said they have issued an advisory that all students could bring negative RT-PCR certificates keeping the interest of all students in mind. “While we have started offline classes for classes nine to twelve, we will also start class six upwards from January 3,” he said.
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Another private PU college management member said they were forced to do this after many COVID-19 clusters were detected in the State. “We want to take all precautionary measures when students are on the school campus. Most parents have agreed to this and said that they will ensure that their children get a test two days before school reopens,” he said.
Susheela S., the parent of a class VIII student, said, “Initially we were reluctant and did not want our child to undergo a COVID test. But later, we thought that in the larger interest of the community, it would be best if we get our son tested.”
However, many schools who had not given students a vacation as they were lagging behind in their academics. Sumanth Narayan, founder of Shanthinikethana School, said that they had decided not to give holidays because they did not want the children to travel and also felt that academics could be disrupted later in 2022 because of a possible third wave and Omicron cases.