Nagpur: Schools which had planned to reopening from Monday, a plan which has now been cancelled by NMC, have sent consent forms to parents with a legal liability clause. Since there is no government issued format, every school is wording it differently but the intent is to avoid legal repercussions if students get infected after reopening.
Dilip Bose, a senior principal, said, “We sent the forms to parents and made it clear that responsibility will be theirs if anything happens. This clause had to be inserted because we do not want any issues to crop up later on.”
Another high enrolment English medium school principal’s said he has added the same content at the end of the form. “In the upper part we have sought consent of parents in a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ format. At the end we have printed a column which says ‘I agree’ to the terms and conditions. These terms and conditions include parents’ taking full responsibility of any infection happening to students,” said the principal.
Vitthal Junghare, a senior teacher at a Marathi medium school in Reshimbagh, said they have also prepared an elaborate consent form. “Some of the schools in Dhule district were using the same form in which it is mentioned that if students show an symptoms of Covid-19 or get infected, then school authorities can’t be held responsible,” said Junghare.
While such clause in the consent letter may give psychological comfort to principals, legal experts say it’s not enough.
Advocate Amit Khare said, “Adding such clauses does not absolve any school from its responsibility. Currently they are taking it down on a normal paper, even if it was on a stamp paper it can be challenged in the court of law. Schools are mandated to take all precautions and adhere to safety guidelines if they decide to reopen.”