3 years ago
The government is going to keep quarantine in the hostels of the schools in the valley. For that, the District Administration Office and the police have started inspecting the dormitories of large schools in the Kathmandu Valley under the direction of the Chief District Officers of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur.
A meeting of the CDOs of the three districts on Sunday estimated that the lack of quarantine in the valley could complicate the situation of corona infection and decided to use school hostels as an alternative.
On the basis of the same decision, the condition of the big schools and hostels in the valley and their capacity were investigated from the same night.
The operater of a private educational institution said - "We help even if the government has not put us on the list of the most affected sector due to Covid-19."
Immediately on Monday, the police working in the police premises, circles, divisions and outposts of the three districts understood the condition of the school. Kathmandu Chief District Officer Janak Raj Dahal said that school hostels would be used as an alternative.
He said: "Corona infected people are not kept in the schools selected as quarantine. We are going to use the school hostel to keep them for a week before letting them go. '
As per the government's directive, the local administration is preparing to use the school in the first phase based on the hostel of the school and the need. Local police in all the three districts had inspected schools in different areas on Monday under the direction of CDOs.
"They entered the school saying the above order, got information about the hostel and studied how many people can be managed," said a school principal.
Narayan Bhatt, CDO of Lalitpur, said that he was not aware of quarantine in the school dormitory. However, under his direction, various police teams inspected the school throughout the day on Tuesday.
Umesh Shrestha, an MP and Pabson's advisor, said that he had received a call from CDO Bhatta of Lalitpur asking whether he could make quarantine in the school. He said: "The CDO had inquired about the condition of the school. I said that I was ready to assist the state in providing emergency facilities."
He said that he had suggested creating quarantine in the well-equipped community schools in the valley in the first phase and urged to use private schools only after that.
He objected to the non-listing of private schools, which are losing billions of rupees after the suspension of education, as Covid-19 Extremely Affected Sectors, saying, "It is unfortunate that the government has always treated the private schools that support the government in an unfair manner."
"Private schools are positive about the government keeping quarantine in schools if necessary," said Shrestha, founder of Little Angels School.
Pabson Vice President TR Dhakal said that the government has been assisting in case of any calamity and added that there was no problem in keeping quarantine in the school. But he said further discussions were necessary.
“Even if the government treats private schools differently, private schools will help the government as a humanitarian deed," he said. We will help to keep quarantine in the school hostel without any hindrance in teaching and administrative work on the basis of need, ”he said.
The government is planning to use the school hostel for a week to target the poorest families returning from abroad for employment.
The local administration has not decided on the number of school hostels to be quarantined.
Kumar Ghimire, general secretary of PABSON, informed that there are about 100 well-organized hostels in three districts of the valley. He said that about 200 schools, both small and large, may have run well-organized hostels.
However, he claimed that quarantine could lead to disputes as some of them are in the inner city. "Even if there is no dispute over whether to allow quarantine, there may be problems with how to manage it," he said. After the local administration prepares the quarantine, the local level will manage it.
Hisan General Secretary Lok Bahadur Bhandari clarified that they would allow the use of school hostels by private colleges if it felt the need. Immediately, a team including Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai visited various schools in the capital.
Pabson and NPabson said they would discuss using the school's hostel.
’Pabson chairman Tikaram Puri and NPabson chairman Rituraj Sapkota said they would allow the use based on need. Both presidents said: "Even if the government does not consider private schools in Corona to be the most affected areas, we will not shy away from helping the government."
The local administration has made final preparations to re-create the quarantine after the cabinet meeting held about two weeks ago decided to remove the quarantine in the school. 'Home can be quarantined if necessary'
Kathmandu Chief District Officer Janak Raj Dahal has warned that private residences could be quarantined if the Corana epidemic takes a terrible turn in the Kathmandu Valley. He said - "If necessary, you and my house can be quarantined."
Dahal has given the warning while the school hostel is being quarantined as the number of corona infections has been increasing in the Kathmandu Valley at the rate of 150 per day.
‘Look, the situation is not going to be terrible, so the school hostel you asked for is not only quarantined, the government can use anyone's house if it deems it necessary. Therefore, all kinds of decisions have been made after getting information about the recent situation in the valley.
‘We have studied a number of options, one of which is to quarantine a school hostel. After that, we have even thought about using it, even if it is someone's house, ”he said.
He added that the Valley can be saved if precautionary measures are taken.
