KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 23
Kathmandu Metropolitan City has decided to allow all the schools inside the metropolis to conduct in-person classes conditionally, with effect from September 26.
A meeting presided over by KMC Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya, who is also chairperson of the Municipal Education Committee, took this decision.
Only schools that adhere to the 27-point minimum guidelines issued by KMC will be eligible to resume in-person teaching and learning activities. The guidelines are in line with the health protocols put in place by the government.
"The health and future of children is a matter of great concern for all considering the backdrop of the COV- ID-19 pandemic. All should act prudently rather than go for or against our decision. It will be mandatory for all schools to ensure that they fully adhere to the prescribed guidelines before resuming in-person classes," Shakya said. He informed that the metropolis will carry out monitoring on a regular basis to ascertain whether schools have complied with the guidelines.
As per the guidelines, the schools will be allowed to run in-person classes only after they hold a meeting with the guardians and stakeholders of the ward concerned for forging a consensus on normalisation of teaching and learning activities. The guidelines also require the school to prepare a detailed action plan on school operation and submit it to the Department of Education.
"Teachers, employees, drivers, helpers, canteen operators and other office-bearers of the schools should be fully vaccinated against COV- ID-19. Persons, who have yet to be inoculated, can contact the Department of Health at KMC to receive the vaccine," say the guidelines. The schools may conduct classes in one or two shifts, depending on the their physical condition, number of students and available human resources.
Other key aspects of the guideline include mandatory provision of sanitiser or handwashing facilities at the school gate and outside the classrooms, thermal gun to measure body temperature at the school gate, physical distancing in and outside the classrooms, use of facemask, arrangement of homemade lunch by students themselves, disinfection of classrooms on a daily basis, shunning morning assemblies and other group activities for students and establishing a school health desk, among others.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 24 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
