With COVID's trajectory showing a downward trend in the last few weeks, schools reopened in the summer zone of Jammu province after the Union Territory administration has ordered the opening of educational institutions in a phased manner.
On Sunday, the Jammu and Kashmir government ordered the reopening of all Universities and Colleges in J&K and schools from 9th to 12th in the Summer zone from February 14 and the rest of classes from February 21 for offline teaching. Schools in the winter zone across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are already closed for three months of winter vacations.
As the order of opening schools and the higher educational institution was issued on Sunday, managements of some schools have decided to take some precautions before opening the schools.
Most of the educational institutions, including universities and colleges, remained closed and are likely to resume activities in a day or two after making necessary arrangements.
Chief Secretary reviews arrangements to reopen schools
Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta on Monday chaired a meeting to take stock of arrangements for reopening of educational institutions and resuming offline teaching in Jammu and Kashmir.
It was informed in the meeting that the Government of Jammu and Kashmir has been regularly reviewing the COVID situation in the Union territory and has now decided to resume offline teaching by reopening all educational institutions.
The Chief Secretary stated that the COVID positivity rate in the UT has been contained to 0.7 percent and impressed upon the heads of all educational institutions to remain vigilant to any signs of infection especially among unvaccinated students below the age of 17 years, besides ensuring adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour, SoPs and protocols; proper social distancing; and hand hygiene provisions, and compliance to UGC guidelines in the matter.
Heads of institutions asked to submit prevention plans
The Chief Secretary asked the Vice-Chancellors of universities, principals of colleges, and heads of all schools to submit COVID prevention and mitigation plans taking into account the capacity of classrooms with 6 feet norm, staggered teaching plan, COVID protocols, vaccination, screening, and emergency SoP; within two days.
The education institutions were further asked to regularly screen their students and ensure that symptomatic students are tested timely and isolated to prevent the spread of infection. Meanwhile, the Health and Medical Education Department was also asked to address the health-related needs of all schools, colleges, and universities in a time-bound manner, through the concerned divisional and district administrations.
