CEO KATHUA HOLDS MEETING REGARDING PREPRATIONS OF REOPENING OF SCHOOLS OF THE DISTRICT
Kathua: To assess the preparations made for re-opening schools in District Kathua, a meeting was held at the Chief Education Office premises, Kathua which was chaired by Mr. P.L. Thapa, CEO, District Kathua & attended by the Zonal Education Officers of the district.
The CEO began by welcoming the ZEOs and briefing the agenda of the meeting and in due course, the CEO enquired from respective ZEOs about the preparations and readiness of schools in each zone.
The CEO briefed his findings and several areas of improvements which he observed in his recent visits to some of the schools.
He stressed on timely submission of the preparedness report by individual schools as instructed by higher authorities along with authentication by respective ZEOs.
He suggested that the submitted plans should be ascertained by ZEOs by making inspection visits to the schools by ZEOs and their zonal inspection committees.
He instructed the ZEOs to make sure that all COVID SOPs are in place in schools which include pre-sanitization, sanitization points, thermal scanning of students and staff before entering the school premises, availability of handwashing facility, clean toilets, availability and wearing of masks at all times in school premises and proper sitting arrangements and running classes in shifts keeping in view the number of students attending and availability of space.
He also asked the ZEOs to instruct the HOIs to keep in touch with local medical teams and schedule random testing for staff and students. In case if a symptomatic or suspected case is noticed, it is critical to get the individual tested and isolated at the earliest as per COVID protocols. He said that he was very much concerned about the health and safety of students, specially the students of primary and middle classes for whom the classes will resume from Monday onwards as per the directions of higher authorities.
- In continuation to the discussion the CEO said that it was important that we are up to the challenge of re-opening the schools after the long gap caused because of the pandemic and keep them running so that the students may not suffer any more and were able to meet the academic challenges while keeping the instructed protocols and procedures in place.
He also stressed upon the efficient functioning of ICT Labs/CAL centers, availability and installation of solar panels wherever required. The CEO was particular about ensuring 100% utilization of funds available in this financial year which could be used for miscellaneous facelifting of schools, placing appropriate safety measures, constructing more ICT/CAL labs and maintaining libraries and book banks in all schools and facilitating students with all possible help.
The CEO instructed all attendees to pass necessary instructions in their respective zones regarding updating school data on Aadharshila portal completely so that the data fetched from the portal could be used efficiently.
Mr. Thapa said that since the examinations are to be held offline, the teachers must concentrate and help the students in preparing for the forthcoming examinations.
The CEO said that there may soon be availability of short-term bridge courses for the students who are still struggling in certain subjects. He added that the teachers may have to pull in more than given hours, take extra classes and dedicate more time to students this session for their success in the examinations. The respective ZEOs also provided their inputs regarding the points discussed by the officer.
While concluding the meeting, Mr. P L Thapa thanked all the stakeholders for their cooperation in making the meeting fruitful and said that he trusted them to work in an effective way so as to strengthen the education system and make the current academic year the most successful despite the challenges.
