On Tuesday, November 17, the Maharashtra school education department informed all municipal corporations and Zilla Parishad (ZP) authorities to conduct free COVID-19 testing for all school teaching and non-teaching staff of Classes 9 to 12 from November 17 to 22.
The education department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will conduct free RT-PCR testing for the coronavirus of over 1,449 staff, of which 1,403 are teaching and 46 are the non-teaching staff of civic schools, till November 22.
After a hiatus of eight months, schools are to resume in the state from November 23. With the threat of the pandemic still looming over us at large, the education department has entrusted the local administration with the responsibility of cleaning the schools and providing temperature gauges. Moreover, the local administration is to make all the arrangements to disinfect the school and provide the necessary facilities.
There are 1,122 schools and more than 1,500 private and unsubsidized schools and junior colleges in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation area. These schools have more than 60,000 teachers and staff. As a result, the question has arisen as to whether so many teachers and staff will be tested in just 5 days along with the daily suspected patients.
The teachers' unions have objected that the period till 22nd is not enough to register such schools and make all other arrangements. Accordingly, the Maharashtra State Teachers' Council has demanded that the date of commencement of the school should be announced only after reviewing all the preparations.
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