The move by the Government of Manipur came after considering that the COVID-19 positive cases are considerably low for the past few months in the state and there have been conditional relaxations of public activities in the state.
TFM Desk
After around 20 months of shutdown due to covid-19 pandemic, schools, colleges and other educational institutes in Manipur will re-open from Wednesday, provided certain Standard Operating procedures (SOP) are observed.
The move by the Government of Manipur came after considering that the COVID-19 positive cases are considerably low for the past few months in the state and there have been conditional relaxation of public activities granted in the state.
For schools, only Class IX to XII will be opened, while all the UGs and PGs classes will be conducted for colleges. For other educational institutes, Class IX and above have been allowed.
An office memo by the commissioner of Education-S/Hr.& Tech.Edn, Government of Manipur, stated that the re-opening shall be subject to observance of SOP/Guidelines issued by the Health Department in this regard.
Over and above the following Standard Operating procedure (SOP) are to be observed for safety of students, teachers and all stakeholders:
1. Attendance of students must not be enforced and shall be purely based on parental consent.
2. Teaching hours will be limited to three to four hours for both online and physical classes and no cultural or sports events will be permitted.
3. However, school/college/institute specific arrangements with regard to the compliance of SOP has to be settled at the level of the head of the school/college/institute.
4. Wearing of face cover/masks by the students, teachers, staff and all stakeholders will be mandatory along with regular handwashing with soap and alcohol-based hand-sanitizers and following the COVID safety guidelines issued by the Health Department, Government of Manipur from time to time.
5. Vaccination of staff and students has been encouraged. All the non-vaccinated teaching and non-teaching staff including those who got only the first dose of vaccination shall be COVID-19 (RT-PCR) tested every 20 days and submit the report to the head of the institutions.
6. Deputy Commissioners of all districts shall constitute a District Level Task Force Committee with the concerned Deputy Commissioner as chairman to monitor the resumption and safe operations of all educational institutions in the district and the Zonal Education Officer in the district, principals of colleges, head of institutes as member secretary along with District Chief Medical Officer and community leaders as members. The District Level Task Force Committee shall be responsible for assessment of COVID-19 situation, ensuring enforcement of the SOP and feasibility of school/college/institute reopening.
7. The schools/college/other educational institutions shall have to provide isolation facilities and tie up with the nearest Health Centre/Joint Director of Health service, in case of emergency and related health checkup.
8. In order to maintain proper social distancing of 6ft between 2 benches, all educational institutes shall permit only a specific number of students in a class at any given time and to ensure this, all educational Institutes may conduct classes on rotational basis or staggered manner, wherever considered necessary.
9. It will be the responsibility of all the school authority/college/institutes to ensure that the learning gap of the students is duly compensated as per guidelines issued by the government from time to time.
10. In the event of sickness of the student or a family member, the student is advised to stay at home.
11. Teachers, parents and other stakeholders have been advised to download the Aarogya Setu App.
It may be mentioned that educational institutions in the state have remained shut since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the state in March, 2020. Although online classes have been conducted in private schools, students of government run schools have been facing problems.