Haryana: 11 children, 8 teachers infected with COVID-19 after reopening of schools in Jind

A debate has erupted once again on whether or not it is right to open schools in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. At least eight teachers and 11 school children have been found COVID-19 positive in Haryana's Jind after which, orders have been issued to conduct tests in all schools. 

The health department has become fully alert regarding the situation.

It may be recalled that a few days ago, schools were opened in Haryana. Under this, orders were issued to open schools for students from 9th to 12th class.

Spokesman of the Haryana government, Jawahar Yadav, informed that rules are being followed completely after the schools have opened. Students are asked to wear masks and social distancing is being maintained. However, it is not mandatory for children to attend school. It is up to the parents whether they want to send the children or not. At present, attendance in schools is also very less.

This comes less than two weeks after at least 575 students and 829 teachers tested positive for COVID-19 in Andhra Pradesh after the state government reopened schools from November 2 for classes 9, 10 and intermediate.

However, Commissioner of School Education, V Chinna Veerabhadrudu does not believe that the figure is alarming when compared to the number of students attending the schools. 

Speaking to news agency PTI, he said, 'Yesterday (November 4) around four lakh students attended schools. There were 262 positive cases. It is not even 0.1 per cent. It is not correct to say that they were affected due to their attendance to schools. We ensure that each school room has only 15 or 16 students.'

"Lives of both students and teachers are important for us," he added. 

As per Veerabhadrudu, the attendance of students to schools was hovering about 40 per cent as parents are still apprehensive of the killer virus despite tight measures being taken by the government.

All the educational institutions were closed in March when the national lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 was announced.