Swine flu shadow over school annual gatherings

Tue, Nov 3 05:59 AM

With the fear of swine flu epidemic reviving in winter, schools have been asked to curb their plans for annual gathering and residential trips.

The secondary school education department of Zilla Parishad held a meeting of city school principals on October 30 and 31 where the education officers proposed guidelines to check the spread in winter. The schools have been asked to hold division-wise events and not to collect all school students for any event at a common place.

The schools have agreed follow the guidelines, officials said, adding that some are even planning to cancel the annual event. School gatherings are an integral part of the school schedule where students rejoice together. This year, however, the situation has changed due to the swine flu. "As the medical experts are of the opinion that swine flu epidemic could be revived in winter, we thought it would be better to have gatherings in restricted manner," said

Prakash Parab, secondary education officer of Zilla Parishad. "We have also asked the principals not to arrange for long trips as there is a risk in going out. A short one-day trip is suggested instead," he said. NMV Girl's High School principal Madhura Kulkarni, who was present for the meeting, said the principals would abide by the decision, as they didn't want to take any chance. "Every year we arrange annual gathering where all 1,600 girls gather. However, in the backdrop of swine flu scare, we will skip the event to avoid crowding," she said.

Meanwhile, Parab also clarified that there would be no effect on schedule of second term due to swine flu scare. "The schools have already made up for the loss of working days during swine flu vacation. Diwali vacation was already curtailed and there will be no need to reschedule the second term as enough working days are available," he said.

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