Education, health equally important for school students: HC

‘Court needs to strike a balance among conflicting considerations of all stakeholders while allowing physical classes’

Since teaching and non-teaching staff in all government and private schools were not vaccinated cent percent, there was a likelihood of students contracting coronavirus through them, Telangana High Court observed on Tuesday. Children who contract COVID-19 at schools would pass on the virus to their family members, some of whom could be senior citizens or have co-morbidity conditions. This would result in serious ramifications, a bench of Acting Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice T. Vinod Kumar noted while hearing a PIL plea challenging the State government’s decision permitting all schools to conduct physical classes. At the same time, some sections of parents and school managements were insisting for physical classes. Lack of physical classes for months together affecting children’s psychological well-being and non-availability of electronic gadgets to avail online classes were some of the reasons cited by them, the Acting CJ said. “Hence, the court needs to strike a balance among conflicting considerations of all stakeholders,” he remarked. When Advocate General B.S. Prasad, stressing for physical classes, said even United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) recommended it, the Acting CJ said that cannot be a valid ground. The bench felt that it was important if the government analysed the issues like difficulties in maintaining social distance in schools and children wearing masks all through the classes before deciding to reopen schools.