Last month, the Ludhiana administration had discussed the vaccination campaign for adolescents during a meeting with school principals. It was decided that special camps would be organized in schools to cover maximum number of children between 15 to 18 years. However, the rise in cases across states in the country prompted the closure of schools.
Over the past few weeks, education officials and school managements in several cities and towns in Punjab have expressed concern over the reopening of schools with state elections in the coming days.
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Some school principals, who spoke to a leading news daily, have demanded that schools be allowed to reopen for vaccinated students with parental consent. Federation of Punjab Schools Association president Jagjit Singh Dhuri said that the government has failed both the parents and the schools and schools should reopen with 50 per cent student strength. He also said that it is unfair to ask the authorities to close the schools after all the financial crunch faced by the department.
The principal of a CBSE school in BRS Nagar touched upon the fact that the outbreak of COVID-19 has been declared ‘endemic’ in most of the countries. Further asserting that it is important that every country is prepared to fight the virus, the principal said that reopening of schools is necessary for the development of children.
According to Thakur Anand, President of Private School Association, behavioral changes have been observed in children which is causing anxiety, panic attacks, stress, depression and personality disorders. He slammed the government for allowing educational institutions to bear the brunt of political rallies. On behalf of the management, he insisted that they should be exempted from paying road tax, insurance, electricity bill, property tax and water tax if the government is forcing schools to remain closed.
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Preschool Association of Ludhiana President Amanpreet Singh, who is also the principal of ABC Magical World in Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, questioned the government for allowing political rallies with huge crowds and lengthy processions; Restaurants, bars, cinema houses, malls will open with 50 per cent capacity and even temples, gurudwaras, mosques and churches will open with 100 per cent capacity.
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