Schools in four districts in Nagaland have been shut down temporarily amid the surge of conjunctivitis/eye flu amongst the school-going children in the state.
The schools in Mon, Dimapur, Niuland, and Chumoukedima will be shut till August 26, informed Thavaseelan K, Principal Director School Education, Nagaland.
He said that the decision was taken by the District Administration, the School Education Department, and the Health and Family Welfare Department, Nagaland.
"Our priority will always be the safety of the students," he said, stating that there have been instances and situations where the ongoing examinations have had to be postponed in the event the schools are shut down.
He said that “they have informed the Deputy Commissioners of the districts concerned that if the situation arises to take the call for closing down the schools based on how severe the outbreak is, the department will stand in full support of the decisions, maintaining that it is better to break the chain earlier and ensure that the kids are safe."
That's the reason why the department has closed down the schools, he said, adding that they will have to continuously monitor the situation, and the next course of action will be determined by how the situation evolves.
He also informed that apart from the four districts, no other districts have gone ahead and closed down schools; however, if the situation worsens, the schools will be closed down.
"We don't want a situation where this spreads out of control and then we try to control it; we would rather be cautious right now than try to tackle the situation once it goes out of our hands,” he added.
The schools in the four districts have been requested to opt for alternate measures like online classes for the students during the period.
