No student should be allowed to attend school without mask: Govt

SRINAGAR — As schools in Kash­mir Val­ley are open­ing from March 2 after a long hia­tus, the gov­ern­ment on Sun­day made wear­ing masks manda­to­ry for the stu­dents com­ing to the edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tions.

“Regard­ing the offline mode of teach­ing for oth­er class­es in all Schools of J&K, the Heads of Insti­tu­tions shall be respon­si­ble for adher­ence to Covid Appro­pri­ate Behav­iour in their respec­tive schools and pre­pare prop­er plans for the same,” reads an order by the Jam­mu and Kash­mir State Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee head­ed by Chief Sec­re­tary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta.

“Symp­to­matic stu­dents should not be allowed to attend school. No stu­dent should be allowed to attend School with­out mask,” the order reads.

All the stu­dents com­ing to attend reg­u­lar offline class­es in the Uni­ver­si­ties, Col­leges, Poly­tech­nics, ITIs, etc. must car­ry a vac­ci­na­tion cer­tifi­cate with them, oder said.

“The Heads of the insti­tu­tions must ensure that guide­lines relat­ed to social dis­tanc­ing and Covid Appro­pri­ate Behav­iour (CAB) are strict­ly fol­lowed includ­ing reg­u­lar screen­ing at the entrance of the Insti­tu­tion,” it said, adding, “They shall also screen any symp­to­matic stu­dent and ensure his/her test­ing to con­tain any pos­si­bil­i­ty of spread of the virus in their insti­tu­tions.:

The SEC also reit­er­at­ed that all the School stu­dents in J&K of Class­es 9th to 12th between 15–17 age group must car­ry a vac­ci­na­tion cer­tifi­cate with them.

“The Heads of Insti­tu­tions must ensure vac­ci­na­tion is done of every stu­dent above 15 years of age in their respec­tive insti­tu­tions,” it said, adding, “The vac­ci­na­tion adher­ence shall be ensured through coor­di­na­tion with the Depart­ment of Health and Med­ical Edu­ca­tion J&K.”

Every school must ensure full com­pli­ance to Covid Appro­pri­ate Behav­iour and SOPs, it said. “They must also ensure screen­ing and test­ing of any symp­to­matic stu­dents to con­tain any pos­si­bil­i­ty of spread of the virus in their Insti­tu­tions.”

The SEC also ordered that the max­i­mum num­ber of peo­ple per­mit­ted to attend any indoor gath­er­ing shall be strict­ly restrict­ed to 50% of autho­rised capac­i­ty.

“Ban­quet Halls in all the Dis­tricts of J&K are per­mit­ted to allow gath­er­ing up to 50% of the autho­rised capac­i­ty (with ver­i­fi­able RT-PCR or Rapid Anti­gen Test for Covid19 not old­er than 72 hours), prefer­ably in open spaces,” it said, adding, “Cin­e­ma halls, the­atres, mul­ti­plex­es, restau­rants, clubs, gym­na­si­ums and swim­ming pools are per­mit­ted to func­tion at 25% of the autho­rised capac­i­ty with due pre­cau­tions such as CAB and adher­ence to SOP.” — (GNS)