NT NETWORK
Panaji/Margao
The state government has been under pressure from various quarters either to pre-pone school exams or suspend classes up to Std IX on account of the rising coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the country.
Consequently, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has convened a high-level meeting on COVID-19 on Saturday at 12 pm at his official residence at Altinho, Panaji.
The meeting will deliberate on precautions to be taken
considering
government of India’s guidelines, and to draw up an action plan for the state
on the deadly virus.
The meeting will be chaired by Sawant and attended by Health Minister Vishwajit Rane; Chief Secretary Parimal Rai; secretary to the CM J Ashok Kumar; the North Goa district collector; the South Goa district collector; secretaries of health, education and tourism; directors of health and education and officials of the MPT, the Dabolim airport and the Railways.
Addressing media persons on Friday evening, Rane said that he suggested to the Chief Minister that classes up to Std IX should be suspended.
He said that there have been queries from parents vis-à-vis educational institutions. Hence he suggested to Sawant that classes up to Ninth Standard be suspended.
“Only the examinations of 10th Standard and 12th Standard should be allowed,” he opined, adding that the final decision will be taken by the Chief Minister.
Earlier in the day, NCP MLA Churchill Alemao also urged the government to take a decision to keep schools, colleges and other educational institutions closed for a few weeks like other states have done as a precautionary measure.
Addressing media persons in Margao, he also demanded better screening of people at the Dabolim airport, and that people entering the state by trains should also be screened.
“Since the first cases were reported in Kerala and there are many people coming by trains from that state, the Railways has to screen passengers…,” he stressed, adding that Margao, Tivim and Vasco railway stations should have facilities to screen people entering the state.
Congress legislator Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco wrote to the Chief Minister, requesting him to shut all the government, government aided and private schools from St I to Std VII as a precautionary measure in view of the rising cases of the deadly coronavirus.
He also suggested that the exams may be immediately pre-poned.