COVID-19: Bihar orders random testing in schools after several students found to be positive

Patna: The Bihar government has ordered for random testing of students, teachers and staff at all educational institutes across the state after several pupils were found infected with COVID-19. A formal instruction to this effect has been issued by the state education department.

“We have asked the health department to conduct random testing of students and teachers in all schools and colleges. They will be closed down immediately even though one case is detected,” Bihar education secretary Sanjay Kumar told the media on Saturday. He said the government wanted the educational institutions to function but they wouldn’t tolerate any violation of COVID guidelines,” the secretary asserted.

Education department officials said just one secondary school out of total over 8,000 have reported coronavirus cases so far. “Yet, the government has taken a very serious note of them,” education department’s deputy director Amit Kumar said adding all schools had been told to strictly follow the COVID-19 protocol.

The action comes after 27 students, principals and teachers were found COVID-19 positive in at least three schools located in Munger and Gaya districts, prompting the authorities to close two schools and declare the areas as “containment zones”. Such is panic gripping the students that little over nine per cent of them have been found attending the schools which were asked to function with 50 percent attendance. The schools were allowed to open in Bihar on January 4 after nine months of closure.

Heavy fees

A report published in the local media said more than 200,000 students have quit the private schools and taken admission in government-run schools in the past nine months since April to escape heavy fees after many families lost jobs as a result of Coronavirus-induced lockdown.

The students shifted to the government schools after the private schools began making frequent calls and putting pressure on them to pay fees although the classes remained suspended.

“We are alarmed to see a dwindling number of students at the private schools post COVID-19 outbreak. The students are continuously withdrawing from private schools to get admission in government institutions,” said CB Singh, president of the Association of Public Schools in Bihar.

This year too, there were very few admissions in classes below five standards while the same remains the situation with admissions in Grade 11. “That is because the students look to be opting for government schools,” Singh explained.

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