Reopening of School after Pandemic - The Challenge every school is facing

Though the information available is very less, we know that children and adolescents are prone to COVID-19, but in most cases the action of the disease is much milder in these age groups than in adults. These young people can however constitute a link in the transmission chain, although to a lesser extent than adults. So, from here we cannot rule out the idea that schools are places where this disease can be transmitted by teachers, staff and the students themselves.

We also know that many infected individuals can be asymptomatic, making it almost impossible to avoid the risk of infection for others coming in contact. It cannot be stopped by simply prohibiting children and staff with flu-like symptoms or fever from attending school. Neither can school attendance be regulated on the basis of an immunological test because of the mediocre reliability of such tests at this time and the large percentage of the population likely to be negative. The virus can spread through the air as far as two meters from the infected person and infection may occur over even greater distances in unventilated indoor spaces. Any contacts with contaminated surfaces is also one of the reasons for getting infected by this disease. 

Now comes the point that if we want to avoid infection, we need to ensure that a physical space of at least two meters between people is always maintained and that indoor spaces are well ventilated. This requirement will make all private schools in Kolkata and the rest of the country to modify the structure of classrooms and other rooms. The use of masks is very much important when it is impossible to maintain physical distance and ensure adequate ventilation. Since the risk of spreading the virus is more through hands, regular hand washing or cleansing with an appropriate sanitizer is very essential. All schools should sanitize their furniture and equipment on a regular basis to keep them disinfectant.

However, we do not have actual evidence about the effectiveness of these measures in real situations in schools and how far those can be properly maintained and for how many days. From here comes the question of whether school should be reopened or not? 

We at BDMI, planned and replanned and choked out the points which we will maintain to reopen our schools. Students, teachers and other staff's health and hygiene will be our first concern and will be addressed with total sincerity.

We at BDMI feel that students should get an opportunity to learn from regular classes though we have given total infrastructure to them for their online classes too. Children are the most flexible category of population when it comes to learning new habits and they are always open to incorporate new changes into their routines and adapting to new norms. They can pick up any new things easily and we hope that this pandemic situation has taught so many things to the children that they will themself be extra careful when it comes to spreading the virus or getting infected.

Please do visit us at https://www.bdmi.org/ for more information about our school.