The Telegraph

A list of dos and don’ts was formulated for students to abide by in terms of safety and hygiene.

Maximum stress was laid on washing hands frequently, avoiding crowded places and staying away from people suffering from the symptoms of cold, to avoid eating junk food and half-cooked meals, to avoid eating raw vegetables and to boil water before drinking.

The district school officials were asked to carry forward the awareness and safety programmes in collaboration with the respective district administration offices and the health department.

Asked if there is any allocation of government budget to provide safety materials like masks, sanitisers or soaps to the students, Buli Gogoi Bhuyan, the district elementary officer and inspector of schools, Kamrup (metro), told The Telegraph, “All schools have an internal infrastructure development fund which can be utilised for supplying the necessary items to the students.”

Two camps have also been conducted here recently where experienced doctors from the health department trained the teaching staff regarding the necessary guidelines to be followed to keep the children safe.

Similar training camps will be conducted in all districts of the state.

This exercise will be mandatory in all the schools in Assam.

A directive has been issued by the Assam education department to all the government officials and inspectors of schools to take precautionary measures and conduct awareness programmes against novel coronavirus.

Sources said the closed-door meeting held recently was presided over by the principal secretary, education department, Assam and the mission director, Samagra Sikha Assam, B. Kalyan Chakr-avarthy, along with the chairman of the Secondary Education Board of Assam (Seba), Ramesh Jain, and other officials.

The meeting was attended by all inspectors of schools in Assam.

Chakravarthy, interacting with the officials for the first time after his joining as the mission director, collected feedback from the officials on how to safeguard the students from the virus.

Necessary directives were issued to spread maximum awareness in all the schools so that every student knows the cause of the infection and its precautions.