Ludhiana: Government Senior Secondary School, Samrala, was closed on Tuesday after a teacher tested positive for Covid-19. “The school will remain closed for a week,” said district education officer (DEO), secondary, Swaranjeet Kaur.
About 60 students and over 30 teachers were sent back home at 9.15am and a notice pinned to a board outside the school after the authorities received the report.
On October 23, as many as 32 teachers were tested. Of them, a teacher tested positive on Tuesday. She has been home isolated.
The school had reopened on October 19. Over 50 to 60 students, who were visiting the school, will be tested after their parents’ consent. Most of the students are from commerce section. The senior medical officer has asked all the teachers to get themselves tested on Wednesday.
School principal Davinder said, “After the test, all 32 teachers were coming to the school. The teacher who has tested positive came on Saturday, but remained on leave on Monday and Tuesday. She will now be on leave for the next 14 days. The rest of the 31 teachers have tested negative. The school will be opened after 10 days and the classes will be held online. The municipal corporation staff is sanitizing the school.”
The school is also a centre for students appearing for classes X and XII open exams. On Monday, six students appeared for Punjabi test and on Tuesday, 102 students took the English exam. Hundred students are scheduled to write the science exam here on Thursday.
The principal said, “We have requested the DEO to shift the centre.”
Punjab School Education Board controller Janak Raj Mehrok told the TOI, “The exam centre has been shifted from Government Senior Secondary School, Samrala-III, to Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School, Samrala-I, for classes X and XII (open school) board examination.”