Swab collection from teachers for COVID-19 test kicks off in Lakhimpur district

LAKHIMPUR: In the wake of the Education Minister's declaration, due arrangements are underway to reopen the educational institutions of Lakhimpur district from September 1. In this regard, the Education Department of the district has initiated almost all preparations with a view to conducting the classes smoothly from the day as per State Government's instructions.

Notably, the educational institutions in Assam, along with other States, have been closed since mid March following the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic. Regarding the reopening of the educational institutions in the district, Inspector of Schools, Mridul Kumar Nath said, "We are almost ready to resume teaching for the students from Class V to Class VIII and the students of other classes as the government notified from September 1. But the whole matter will depend upon the decisions of the expert committee meeting to be held on August 27 and further order of the State Government. At present, there are some COVID Care Centers (CCC) at some educational institutions of the district. Our honourable DC told us that the CCCs would be shifted to another establishments in order to get those educational institutions ready for regular classes."

On the other hand, the collection of swab from teachers for the COVID-19 test kicked off in the district from Monday. Notably, Assam Education and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarmah on August 18 declared that all teachers and employees of the schools would compulsorily have to get themselves tested for COVID-19 between August 21 and 30 and those teachers and employees testing negative for coronavirus must attend their place of postings from September 1 onwards. Otherwise, they would be treated as 'on leave without pay'.

On Tuesday, a section of college teachers submitted their swab to the designated teams of health personnel at different places under the district. In this regard, the Inspector of Schools said that the venture taken for COVID-19 test would be completed step by step. For this purpose, we are in adequate coordination with the District Health Department and the district was divided into some zones for due convenience. The immediate progress of the work will depend upon availability of the PPT kits in the Health Department. The High School teachers will submit their swab from Tuesday onwards", added Mridul Kumar Nath.

On the other hand, the Joint Director of the District Health Services in this regard informed that the the District Health Department had already taken up steps to have the teachers of the district tested for COVID-19.

"Our department is ready to conduct the COVID-19 test for almost 15,000 teachers of the district. We have already manged to provide medical teams for the their swab collection across the district", informed the Joint Director in charge while contacted.

Notably, swab from a section of college teachers was collected at ten places under the district on Monday for real time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (rRT-PCR) Test. Though Rapid Antigen Test was also conducted to them on the day, none of them tested positive for COVID-19, informed a source of the District Health Department.

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