After nearly a month and half, the district administration in Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Ranipet and Tirupattur are all set to reopen schools for Classes I to X and colleges from Tuesday with COVID-19 safety measures, including hand sanitiser spots within the campus, thermal scanners, disinfection of classrooms, marking of physical distancing spaces for students, especially during lunch hours, and availability of free masks for students.
Helplines (04175-250814; 04175-253845) have also been set up at the Tiruvannamalai Collectorate to report lax enforcement of safety measures at schools. On Monday, Tiruvannamalai Collector B. Murugesh met with school authorities in the district to take stock of the preparedness at their institutions. “Special buses have also been arranged for safe transport of students to schools and colleges. The Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for COVID-19 will be strictly followed,” Mr. Murugesh said.
At present, Tiruvannamalai has a total of 1,600 schools, including 545 high and higher secondary schools, with 1.27 lakh students between Classes IX and XII alone. Of the 6 lakh people eligible for vaccination, 3.8 lakh have taken the shot since April 2021, with 15,000 people getting vaccinated daily on average. Of the total 11,857 teachers for classes IX and XII, over 90% have been vaccinated.
In Vellore, the vaccination drive, especially for teachers and college students, has been undertaken by the Vellore Corporation and the district administration. The Corporation alone has 200 schools with more than 5,000 teachers.
On an average, 4,000 people, including teachers, traders, residents and students, are being vaccinated daily within corporation limits.
The newly-carved districts — Tirupattur and Ranipet — have vaccinated 98% of their teachers since April 2021.