Closure of residential schools, hostel in Palghar worries about online education

Palghar District Collector has announced the closure of all residential schools and hostels after testing positive for Kovid-19 at two tribal schools in Johar and Nandaur. The closure will affect 103 residential schools and 33 tribal hostels. The day after the circular was released, the schools expressed concern about the difficulty in online education due to poor network in hilly areas and lack of sufficient teachers to visit distant villages to teach children.

The district has allowed day schools to function, And has made an exception for tenth and twelfth grade students in residential schools so that they can stay in hostels with written consent. Collector Dr. Manik Gursal said that there is a large population of children living together in residential schools and hostels and immediate closure is necessary. Palghar recorded a 50-60 percent increase in daily Kovid-19 cases in a fortnight, recording over 200 new cases per day.

There have been no deaths from the virus this month. Last week, 17 employees of the Community Kitchen in Vinwal tested positive, which led to the testing of all students at the aided residential tribal school in Hirwara, Johar. At least 42 positives came, 24 of them are still actively infected. Earlier this week, 30 students and a teacher at Nandor Residential School tested positive for Kovid-19.

In the third case, A student tested positive at the Government Residential School in Ozhar. “These are 73 positive cases out of 25,000 studies in Palghar. Nandhaur School is a very large school with 50 per cent students coming from the city of Palghar. We had to pick up the phone to close the hostel. Once the situation improves, we will call back the students, ”said Ashima Mittal, Sub-Divisional Officer, Dahanu. On Thursday, at a privately aided residential school in Vikramgarh, 101 children from ninth and tenth grade were giving their exams, while Principal Yograj Patil was worried about how to arrange transport to send them back home.

“Till now we have not received a circular from the tribal department to close the hostels. But if the students have