Exactly two days after the resumption of schools, the state of Tamil Nadu had braced up a shocking development that a student of Class 10 has tested positive for the Covid-19 viral infection on Friday, leaving the entire school premises to come under the scanner. The students and staff members have been going through tests to ascertain whether they had contracted the disease. 

According to reports, A Class 10 girl student of a government school in Elachipalayam in the Namakkal district has tested positive for the Covid-19 pandemic on Friday. The development had alerted the district administration and health officials and they had rushed to the school to initiate measures to prevent further spread. The student, who had tested positive, has been put into isolation and the officials had brought the school premises under their surveillance. 

The health officials have unfolded the measure to carry out the testing for the rest of the schools, teachers, and staff members of the school as the development had come as a shock to the state and to the government and it has stirred concern over the resumption of schools. Late last month, the Tamil Nadu government has announced that the schools will be resumed for classes 9 to 12 from September 1. Following the announcement, the private and public schools had reopened on Wednesday for classes 9 to 12 after 18 months. 

The schools were reopened at the backdrop of a decline in the Covid-19 cases and the government has released a slew of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and directed the students, teachers, and staff members to adhere to them. In the Standard Operating Procedures, the state government has mandated that the teachers and all other staff members of the schools and colleges must have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccines before attending the classes. As per the SOPs, not more than 20 students should be allowed to sit in a room and the schools and colleges are banned from conducting meetings, assemblies, gatherings, and sporting activities. 

 While the vaccination was advocated as the imperative shield to beat the pandemic, there were a lot of concerns among the people of these backgrounds that most of them are yet to take their second dose of the vaccine. It was expressed to the government that the teachers, who haven't taken the second dose, can't attend the schools even after the resumption as per the government norms. When the government had ramped up the vaccination drive with the target to vaccinating the teachers within Teachers' Day (September 5), it was surfaced with the demands to permit the teachers and staff members with the first dose of the vaccine.

Following the demands, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian has on Sunday said that the teachers and college professors can return to their work and attend the classes if they had taken their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. As per the SOPs, not more than 20 students should be allowed to sit in a room and the schools and colleges are banned from conducting meetings, assemblies, gatherings, and sporting activities. The government has directed the educational institutions to strictly enforce the safety guidelines and they must sanitize the classrooms at regular intervals and must curb the grounds for unnecessary gathering by the students on the premises.