November 3, 2020
TED NewsDesk, Tamil Nadu: In a recent notice and guidelines released by the Center, the schools, colleges and other educational institutions received permission to reopen after seven months of closure. The government gave its consent to these institutions to shift back to the traditional format amid COVID-19 outbreak. It also gave freedom to the state governments to decide upon the same per the local conditions of their areas.
However, Trichy, a Federation of Consumer and Service Organisations requested the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Mr Edappadi K Palaniswami to cancel the order of reopening schools and colleges.
Raising its apprehension over the increased risk involved in attending classes, the association highlighted that the students might contract Coronavirus owing to the travelling and transportation involved in the process. Moreover, they may not abide by the social distancing protocols, which makes it difficult to contain the spread of the virus.
“It would be difficult to make students follow Covid-19 preventive norms like wearing masks, washing hands and most importantly maintaining social distance. Further, the public transport is already crowded, and reopening of educational institutions would make them travel in crowded buses which would increase the risk of infection,” remarked M Sekaran, President of the Federation, while voicing his concern.
Besides, the public transportations like autorickshaws, buses, etc., may not ensure social distancing criteria given they carry more than 2-3 students. Even if the teenage and college students have a better immunity system, they are likely to infect the elder members around them, thus turning into asymptomatic contributors of the pandemic.
The federation outlined that restarting on-campus classes and hostel facilities will double the risk affecting both the students and their families. Currently, the students attend virtual classes apart from audiovisual sessions in Kalvi Tholaikatchi. Hence, Trichy urged the state to let things function as they are doing so now.
Source: Times of India