West Bengal schools and colleges to open from Nov 15: CM Mamata Banerjee
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee announces the re-opening of schools and colleges from November 15 and directs the chief secretary to ensure proper maintenance of covid protocols in the educational institutes.
Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, has said that schools and colleges will re-open from November 15. The schools and colleges have been closed since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.
For the last two months, students of various universities were protesting to re-open campuses across the state. Mamata Banerjee announced the re-opening of schools and colleges during an administrative meeting in Uttarkanya (North Bengal) and directed the chief secretary to take necessary steps.
The schools and colleges to follow the SOPs
Since the schools are opening for the first time after a gap of more than a year, the school staff and faculty were strictly directed to get completely vaccinated. According to the state health bulletin, Bengal has administered second dose vaccine (cumulative) to 1.97 crore people till October 25.
After re-opening, schools should follow all covid protocols like regular sanitization of the classroom, maintaining social distancing, procuring thermal guns for temperature monitoring of staff and students. The chief secretary has to ensure that schools have followed the covid protocols before giving the green signal.
Containment zones return to Bengal
Since the Durga Puja festival, covid cases have spiked in Bengal. The West Bengal Health Bulletin has noted that the state has registered 805 new covid cases till October 25. The number of covid deaths has also increased. Bengal CM urged everyone to wear their masks properly to avoid getting infected with the disease. “Please wear the mask properly. Do not keep the mask hanging from your chin,” Banerjee said. She had also acknowledged the rise of covid cases after the state’s largest festival and has asked people to follow the protocols during the upcoming festivals.
Positivity Rate Rising Steadily
The state has already announced the setting up of containment zones in North 24 Parganas and Howrah. Already 56 areas are identified as containment zones in North 24 Parganas. Fourteen containment zones had been proposed in the Howrah district, according to the Hindustan Times.
The positivity rate is also rising steadily. On September 24, it was 1.7% and shot up to 2.1% on October 10. Yesterday, it was around 2.3%. Amidst the rise in cases, there is an open violation of night curfew across the state capital and its suburbs.
Ten micro-containment zones have been proposed in Salt Lake, mostly across sectors II and III areas and Barrackpore, respectively. Lake Town has also got three micro-containment zones. Three micro-containment zones have been set up at Andul road in Howrah at 6 pm on Saturday. The rest were spread across the district.