12 teachers test Covid positive, Faridabad govt school temporarily shut

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, November 6

The Government Senior Secondary School (GSSS) at Sarai Khwaja here, which is one of the biggest government schools in the state, has been closed for at least two days in the wake of 14 staff members, including 12 teachers, testing Covid positive.

Revealing that a dozen teachers and two members of the support staff (midday meal workers) tested positive in a special camp organised with the help of the civil hospital, school principal Neelam Kaushik said the staff found positive had been isolated or sent to hospital and the school had been closed down for sanitisation. She said a total of 138 teachers and staff members got tested for Covid on Thursday.

Though a total of 3,600 students are enrolled in senior classes (secondary level) here, only 200 students have been attending classes since November 2, when the school was reopened after easing of the lockdown.

The total student strength of the school is over 5,500 and it is one of the biggest government schools in the state. Majority of the other students have preferred online classes in view of the pandemic, it is claimed.

Though the school has a total of 150 teaching staff at present, 90 are those who teach students of classes IX to XII.

While all SOP norms are reportedly being maintained for the classroom teaching, no Covid test of students attending classes at present has been done so far.

“The school has been closed down temporarily and a report has been submitted to the higher authorities in Chandigarh,'' said Satender Kaur Verma, DEO, Faridabad.