Around 262 students and 160 teachers have been found infected with the coronavirus three days after the school reopened in Andhra Pradesh on November 2 for ninth and tenth-grade students.
School education commissioner V Chinna Virbhadrudu gave this information on Thursday. He said that the number of infected students is not a concern as compared to the number of students coming to school. He said that every possible step is being taken to ensure compliance with Kovid-19 safety standards in every institution.
He said that about four lakh students reached the school on November 4. The number of infected students is 262, which is not even 0.1 percent of four lakh students. It is not correct to say that students were infected due to going to school. We have ensured that only 15 or 16 students are present in each class. This is not a matter of concern.
According to the data provided by the department, 9.75 lakh students have been registered for class IX and X in the state. Of these, 3.93 lakh students came to school. Out of a total of 1.11 lakh teachers, more than 99,000 teachers taught students in educational institutions. Virbhadrudu said that out of 1.11 lakh teachers, around 160 teachers have been found infected with the coronavirus.
He said that the poor students were most affected by the closure of the school as online classes were out of their reach. The closure of the school will also affect the girl students of tribal and rural areas as their parents can also marry them after stopping their studies.