Students of Classes 9 to 12 to get back to school in J&K at 'parents' risk'

Schools in Jammu and Kashmir will reopen on Monday for Classes 9 to 12, but the entire responsibility for the safety of the students will be on the parents.

In a bizarre move, the Directorate of School Education has devised an undertaking to be furnished by the parents, which puts the entire responsibility for the safety of children on the parents.

"I undertake that I will not blame anybody in the school for any incident of Covid-19 infection", states the undertaking that parents must provide so that their children can attend the schools for Classes 9 to 12.

The undertaking also says that the parents will provide face masks, sanitizers and also ensure that the children do not wear any belts, rings, wrist watches, etc., those could become causes for the spread of the coronavirus infection.

Educational institutions were closed in Kashmir on August 5, 2019 after Article 370 was abrogated and the state downgraded into two union territories of J&K and Ladakh.

Educational institutions were scheduled to reopen in March this year, but had to be shut because of the lockdown to check the spread of Covid-19 infection.

The decision to reopen the schools when the number of Covid positive cases is on the rise in J&K has evoked criticism from many quarters.

The general impression gathered here is that given the threat of the pandemic, the parents are reluctant to send their children to the schools.