All schools, colleges shut till Mar 22
STATE DIRECTIVE Schools with ongoing exams to remain open, no change in board exam schedule; review after a week
NOIDA: All the schools and educational institutes in Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad districts will remain closed till March 22 in view of an outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease, Covid-19, stated an order of the Uttar Pradesh government.
Institutes where exams were being held will continue to operate and institutes where exams were yet to start would now postpone the year-end assessment; all the board exams will be conducted as per schedule.
These decisions were taken in a meeting chaired by chief minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Friday.
The state government order stated that in primary schools the exams, which were supposed to take place between March 16 and March 23, have, for now, been shifted to March 23-28.
Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate BN Singh said, “To start with, schools and few other departments will remain closed for a week. We will decide on whether to extend this closure as per the orders of the state government. We are taking all precautionary measures in the district to check spread of Covid-19.”
“All the educational institutes of all categories are going to remain closed till March 22 as per the state government orders. All the required precautions have been taken in the district to fight the Covid-19,” Ghaziabad magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said.
On Friday, the chief minister said they would review the situation after March 22 to decide if educational institutes should continue to remain closed or not.
VARSITIES GO ONLINE
Universities in GB Nagar and Ghaziabad have discontinued classroom teaching till March 22 to ensure students’ safety.
Amity University called off ‘face-to-face’ classroom activities till March 31. The university is going to hold classes online to complete the remaining course material.
“All face-to-face classroom activities at the campus have been called off with effect from tomorrow (March 14) till March 31 as a precautionary measure. In view of the above, online classes will be scheduled from next week so there is no academic loss to students,” said a spokesperson of the varsity in Noida’s Sector 125.
Amit University also said it would cancel interviews, as part of the admission procedure. “The admission process will be completely online for now. We will hold interviews on Skype because of Covid-19 threat. Admissions are on and they will continue till July,” Amity University spokesperson Savita Mehta said.
Similarly, two private universities in Greater Noida—shiva Nadar University and Sharda University—have also called off classroom teaching.
“All university students (UG, PG, doctoral) who are not on campus are being encouraged to stay away until March 31, and beyond if necessary. During this time, we will move all courses online... Any assessment planned for this period will either be postponed or adapted to fit the online teaching model,” said a spokesperson from Shiv Nadar University.
Dr Ajit Kumar, joint registrar and spokesperson of the Sharda University said, “We have made groups on Whatsapp wherein students can clear their doubts with teachers. We have told students that classes won’t be taking place, but teachers will always be available on email and social media groups. We are shifting every student who has reported even the smallest health issue to our on-campus hospital.”
EMERGENCY NUMBER
The district administration of GB Nagar also set up a 24x7 call centre at the collectorate in Greater Noida to address the people’s queries related to Coronavirus. The number is – 01202569901. People can also inform on this number if anybody exhibits symptoms of Covid-19 such as runny nose, sore throat, cough, fever or difficulty in breathing in severe cases.
MOM CALLS TO REPORT ITALY-RETURN SON
The health department has taken swab sample of a Noida-based man and his parents after the mother informed that her son had returned from Italy on March 1, but hadn’t taken the Covid-19 test. The trio gave their sample at the Government Institute of Medical Sciences in Greater Noida.
“We got a call from a man’s mother that her son had returned from Italy and wasn’t ready to go for a Covid-19 test. She noticed few symptoms of the virus in her husband after which she decided to call us and ensure that we take the sample of her son and husband. We have taken samples of all the three,” chief medical officer Dr Anurag Bhargava said.
Frantic calls were also received Thursday night from residents of Noida’s Sector 49. Health department officials were told that three UK nationals were residing in a guest house there.
The chief medical officer had to visit the area at 10.30pm following the panic among residents. “Residents were asking to conduct tests of three UK nationals including a woman for Covid-19. We found that the trio came to India in October 2019 and have been travelling to various states. We made people understand that there is no danger and they haven’t travelled out of India since October last year. People calmed down after our assurance that the trio was safe,” he said.