As many as 829 teachers and 575 students, all from government high schools, have tested positive for COVID-19 in Andhra Pradesh.

The state government decided to reopen the schools on November 2 for classes 9th and 10th and second-year intermediate students adhering to the COVID-19 norms and protocols

According to the data provided by the School Education Department when 70,790 out of the total 1.89 lakh government teachers were tested for COVID-19, of which 829 teachers tested positive, reported The New Indian Express.

On the other hand, when 95,763 students were tested for the virus of which 573 tested positive, this comes out to be at 0.60 per cent. School Education Commissioner V Chinna Veerabhadrdu, exclaimed that the figures are not alarming.

East Godavari is the district with the highest number of 172 teachers who have tested positive for the virus followed by 141 in Srikakulam.

According to the report, no teacher was tested positive in the district of Krishna, the reason stated was that only 26 teachers were tested for covid 19 while in the other districts the tests were conducted in hundreds.

‘About four lakh students are attending school across the State every day. This means that the number of students who tested positive is not even 1 per cent of the total students attending classes. With respect to teachers also, as on Wednesday, 99,000 teachers, out of the total 1.11 lakh, attended schools and only 829 have tested positive,’ he stated.

Speaking for the teachers he stated that the tests for the teachers were conducted before the reopening of the schools and the results have come after it.

When asked about how students contracted the virus he explained that in the case of students, we cannot conclude that they contracted the virus because they started going to school. ‘There are two reasons – first, all the schools are found to be following each and every rule prescribed as per the Covid-19 protocol and second, in maximum cases the students’ parents are coming to drop and pick up them and barely any students are going home in groups on their own.’

Of the 9.75 lakhs students who have registered for classes 9th and 10th in the state, around 4 lakh students have been attending classes.

The Education Commissioner, when asked about any changes in the plan regarding the reopening of schools in the wake of the pandemic, replied that it is too early to make any such decision. ‘We have to consider the students who belong to the ‘no-tech’ category (does not have access to online classes) as they suffered the most during the lockdown. After observing the situation for a few more days, we will take an appropriate decision. For now, we have instructed the schools to let the students of lower class disperse an hour before the higher class. Similarly, other guidelines will also be added to ensure the safety of students,’ he stated.

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