Children still continue to miss classes and in some cases exams too as they continue to suffer from fever, cough and cold.
In many cases, mothers, who are the primary caregivers and are in close proximity to the children, are also getting infected. The vice-versa is also happening, said doctors.
Half-yearly exams have either started in schools or are scheduled to begin next week.
Usually, children try not to miss school during exams but if they do it means that they are genuinely sick said teachers across several schools.
“About 30 to 40 per cent of children that I am seeing now are coming with fever, cough and cold,” said Apurba Ghosh, director, Institute of Child Health.
Parents with children in primary school are getting infected more because of being with the child continuously.
A mother whose son is in Class II got infected within three days of her son running a high temperature.
While attending to her son she tried to keep her daughter, who is in Class I safe by making her wear a mask and keeping her separate. “The day I got the fever I kept her with my parents,” said the woman, who lives near Deshapriya Park.
Another mother, a resident of New Town, had fever within two days of attending to her daughter.
On Tuesday, she spent the entire night attending to her daughter and giving her a cold compress to keep her temperature down. On Thursday, the mother herself was running a temperature.
“Mothers are getting from children and also the other way round,” said Ghosh.
In several schools, a number of students remain absent, sometimes for the entire week.
Schools also discourage parents from sending children to school for two reasons — one so that the children don't become weak and second to prevent them from infecting other children.
“In every class, we have a couple of students absent despite the half-yearly exams. We have asked parents not to send children to school if they are unwell. We will give them scope for a retest,” said Amita Prasad, director, Indus Valley World School.
If sick children come to school it creates more hassle for schools to send them back home.
“We call parents to take them back but the weather is so inclement that at times they take time to reach. As a result, children start feeling more unwell,” said Nupur Ghosh, vice principal, Mahadevi Birla World Academy.
“We have a few dengue and viral infection cases because of which the children are missing their exam,” said Terence John, principal, Julien Day School Kalyani.
The school began their exam on September 8.
Several schools that do not have a restest option calculate the marks based on the year-long assessments.
“They may not get a rank but parents should understand that health is more important,” said a teacher.
