The government had closed all schools and colleges in February 2020 when Covid-19 cases had hit the country and since then no efforts have been made to frame any guideline to open these.
When Covid-19 cases have been on a continuous decline for almost two months and many states like Delhi/NCR are now reporting around or less than 100 daily active cases, health experts have vouched for opening up of educational institutions in a staggered manner.
The government had closed all schools and colleges in February 2020 when Covid-19 cases had hit the country and since then no efforts have been made to frame any guideline to open these.
Some states like Himachal Pradesh and Kerala had opened their schools after the first wave but when new Covid-19 cases started rising in early April, they were shut down.
In contrast, many countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore to name a few had also shut down their institutions according to prevailing Covid-19 conditions but soon after cases came down they immediately resumed the classes.
“The United Kingdom kept its schools opened even when Covid-19 was at its peak in the country. It is because they believe that keeping children away from regular classes will have a detrimental impact on their mental growth and, second, kids are the least vulnerable of Covid-19 of all age group,” Dr Sanjay Rai, professor, community medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi said.
Even countries like Sweden never shut down their schools and colleges despite having more than 9000 active cases a day in December 2020 when they had witnessed the first wave.
Dispelling the much-hyped fear that the third wave will impact kids, Dr Jugal Kishore, the head of community medicine at Safdarjung Hospital, said that a recent survey done by Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation of Pimpri in the Pune district shows that 70 per cent of kids in the 6 to 18 age group have already got antibodies against the disease.
