Assam reopened its schools and colleges in a phased manner from September 6 beginning with the final year students of higher secondary, graduation, and post-graduation, while the primary section from Class 1 onwards attended school in the state for the first time on October 19 since the COVID-19 pandemic struck nearly two years ago.
According to the new SOPs, physical classes for standards 1-8 will be held on alternate days of the week, while from standard 9 onwards, classes will be on a daily basis. A maximum number of 30 students are allowed per section of a class. Class 10 restarted on September 20.
The decision to reopen the educational institutions was taken in view of the improving COVID-19 situation in Assam, with the deputy commissioner of a district reserving the right to declare these closed if the positivity rate breaches the 2-per cent mark on a particular day.
However, 11 days after the schools reopened several news reports have stated that as many as 18 schools in different districts have been shut down and turned into micro-containment zones due to students being infected with the deadly contagion. Notably, nearly 50 lakh students have been enrolled only in elementary schools across Assam.
In the last two days, two schools were declared micro-containment zones in Guwahati. Kamakhya High School, Maligaon has been declared as a micro-containment zone for seven days to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The headmaster of the school has been infected with the virus and he lives inside the school premises. Besides, three teachers of Garigaon Balika Maktab have been infected with the virus too. Moreover, 22 students of a private school in Mangaldoi, Jnan Bikas Academy were detected with the virus on Saturday.
These instances are a matter of concern, as the Assam government has been reiterating that the Covid-19 situation in the state has improved and is in control, while, the reality seems to be different. So, the surge in cases among school students and teachers implies that cluster outbreaks are back?
The country is yet to start the vaccination drive for the minor population. While both the central and Assam governments are yet to start the process of inoculation of children and teenagers, is it than practically right, fair, reasonable, and unerring to open educational institutions?
Does the government's responsibility towards the public end, as it has stated in one of the recent SOPs published, that parents and guardians are required to give written consent for their wards to attend physical classes?
A sero survey for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 published by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in July stated that "children between six and 14 years were found to have similar seroprevalence in the range of 39.4% to 52.2%, as in adults".
On October 12, the Assam health department was quoted in a media report that stated that almost 70 lakh children in the state between the age of two and 18 years will receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
The state so far has registered 12,000 Covid-19 patients less than five years old, while, 55,000 are between the age group of six and eighteen which together counts for 11 per cent of the total cases.
The data only proves further that minors are vulnerable to the disease and reopening of educational institutions can only make matters worse for their health and accelerate the spread of the deadly contagion that has already claimed around 6,000 lives in Assam.
It is understandable that the learning losses can only be compensated with offline classes, and many doctors dealing closely have stated that most children are free from co-morbidities and can survive the pandemic with precautions.
But the inevitable question remains that can the lack of vaccine shield severely affect children's health while the cases seem to fluctuate from time to time? And with students and teachers being infected with the virus once again, without robust Covid-19 mitigation risks will the pandemic only whisk more?
