Preamble:

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken the whole world by storm. More than 300 million students worldwide are having their education disrupted by the spread of Coronavirus. Schools and universities haven’t faced this level of disruption in generations. It seems like our lifestyles have taken a toll on nature and now it’s giving it back to us. It has changed the outlook of people towards life and has affected every sector, more so the Education sector. Many schools shifted to online teaching during the pandemic. Schools have realized that they need a backup system for such times to carry on teaching and learning. Schools need to change the way they operate and redesign their systems. Maintaining safe school operations or reopening schools after a closure requires many considerations but, if done well, can promote public safety.

Aim:

To create a protocol for carrying on education in person during the ongoing pandemic keeping the safety of students and staff at the pinnacle of operation as well as to continue with the best skill of handling student psychology effectively through the COVID-19 phase which is a challenge itself.

Objectives:

The purpose of this document is to provide clear and actionable guidance for safe operations through the prevention, early detection and control of COVID-19 in DYPIS.

Background Checks:

Background checks for all students and staff including teaching faculty, administrative, support staff and transport vehicle drivers must be conducted to assess the probability of possible exposure to the contagion.

The background check for an individual would entail:

1. Checking the individual for symptoms that are caused by COVID-19 infection
2. Checking for instances of sickness among their immediate family members
3. Checking the state of infection in localities where the individual has been residing for the past three months
4. Checking the documentation of covid19 vaccination

Health and Hygiene:

• Staff and students are often in close contact, sharing the same space, supplies, and equipment for long periods of time. As a result, there is an increased risk that staff and students will spread the contagion to each other.
• Less often, people might get infected by touching surfaces or objects with viruses on them and then touching their eyes, nose, or mouth.
• Children should be provided with information about how to protect themselves. DYPIS should promote hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette and be stocked with appropriate supplies.
• Monitoring children’s health and keeping them home from school if they are ill. Proper cleaning and ventilation and measures to reduce crowding are also advised.
• School nurse to be trained appropriately by the hospital and medical facilities to be upgraded. Mask, gloves and face shields for the support staff, office staff, bus staff and security should be mandatory.
• Sanitizing the school property should be a priority.
• Staff members and students should wear a mask at all times.

Maintenance of School building:

The complete building to be sanitized every day. Cleaning and disinfecting the school building, especially water and sanitation facilities. Regular fogging of the ground floor of the building consisting of the foyer, canteen and security areas. Airflow and ventilation should be ensured at all times during school hours.

School furniture and classrooms to be sanitized daily. Sanitizers should be kept on each floor as well as in every classroom and faculty room for the students and staff to use it regularly. All the labs will need to be sanitized every hour.

Training to be provided to the Support staff as well as office staff in regard to sanitization and cleanliness.

Equipment’s needed for maintaining hygiene in the school:

Infrared thermometers, Pulse Oximeters, sanitizers, disinfectants, gloves, face masks, medicated hand wash and if possible face shields for students.

Maintenance of Play area:

Regular fogging to be done around the playground next to the school. Play Area will not be used for any extracurricular/social activities.

ICT Lab and library:

Library and ICT lab will not be used by the students. This is to maintain the social distancing between the students.

Classroom Furniture placement:

Each desk will be placed at appropriate distance from each other to maintain the social distancing. Sanitizing the class room furniture regularly will be a priority.

Teaching hours and days:

The School should maintain social distancing among staff and students during school hours by closing playgrounds, cancelling non-essential activities and meetings, keeping students in constant class groups or classrooms, increasing spacing between students in classes, shortening the school week, and staggering school start and lunch or break times across year groups or classes.

Visitor’s Protocol:

Only one entrance to the school building to be kept open. The main entrance of the school building to be closely monitored and access to the building has to be strictly controlled. To further reduce the risk of the contagion entering the school premises, all activities entailing face-to-face interaction with persons from outside of the school are hereby suspended until further notice. Meetings with persons from outside of the school must be conducted remotely on a suitable video conferencing platform. If unavoidable, they can be entertained through the glass counter of the security cabin at the school entrance.

The entry into the playground to be kept shut. It is mandatory for all to maintain social distancing and wear mask in the school premises. Visitors, who have to be allowed to enter, can be checked in a screening near the main entrance for body temperature & blood oxygen level and to ensure complete protection by sanitizing their bags & belongings are through fogging machine.

Holding of events and activities:

Any kind of gathering to be avoided including assemblies. Events can be organized online. Activities can be conducted maintaining social distancing. Using the foyer for activities to be minimized unless absolutely necessary as well as keeping the social distancing in mind.

Birthdays and celebrations:

No distribution of sweets and chocolates will be allowed during this period.

School timings:

The school timings would be 8:45 am to 1:00 pm. The schedule to be reviewed on weekly basis.

Student allocation:

 Students will be seated maintaining distance from each other. Students who choose attend online session will have an option of joining through Zoom.

To motivate students to stay engaged in learning beyond school hours, the learning activities must appeal to students’ personal interests and give them a sense of meaning and progress. This can be achieved by:

1. Using online tools which allows teachers to integrate learning and assessment and students to learn at their own pace.
2. Using project-based activities that students find interesting and relatable, and can be carried out using materials commonly found at home.
3. Creating collaborative learning activities using tools such as Google Docs, Google Sheets, etc. so that students can scaffold each other.
4. Using interdisciplinary learning activities to help students apply their learning in different contexts.
5. Designing activities that require students to write blog posts, make short videos, etc. which can help them develop their online profile.
6. Using flipped classroom activities that give students opportunities to create tutorials for their classmates, design their own assignments, engage in peer-to-peer. scaffolding vii. Giving students constructive feedback on their work frequently.

Minimize person-surface-person contact:

There is a possibility that the contagion may spread through contaminated surfaces. Therefore, to render this mode of spread ineffective, following measures must be taken to minimize the number of surfaces that are commonly used by staff and students:

1. During the school day, students must not switch places or exchange chairs and desks.
2. Door handles are among the objects that are commonly shared by all. Doors that need not be closed must be kept open during the school hours. This will help minimize the number of instances of person-surface-person contact.
3. Washroom doors will have a plate installed at the bottom edge, the plate can be used to open and shut the door.
4. Students and staff refrain from sharing goods or articles of any kind including stationary. In cases where this is unavoidable, persons involved in sharing the goods must ensure that the item being shared is clean. If in doubt, they must approach a teacher nearby.

Staff allocation:

Staff rooms should not be congested at any point of time. 4 teachers can be accommodated in the staffroom. Rest of the teachers will have to be spread across the classrooms, library and ICT Lab.

Canteen facility:

Lunch will not be served in school. Packaged snacks could be served after sanitization of the same. We would be installing a vending machine in the canteen for the packed food to be purchased by the students.

Packed lunch boxes can be provided at a certain cost for the teachers.

Break timings:

The break timings to be staggered for each grade. Each grade to have its short break at a different time. Students to be supervised closely to ensure they maintain distance between each other during breaks.

School Transport:

When the school bus service resumes, one student to be seated on every alternate seat. Buses to be sanitized after every trip. Bus staff to wear gloves and face masks at all times. Cleaner to sit next to the driver and maid to be positioned near the door. Absolutely no contact between bus staff and students. A distance of 3 feet to be maintained at all times.

Student Entry and dispersal:

Only the main entrance to be used for entry and exit. An indoor screening area to be created near the entrance where students and staff will be screened prior to moving to classrooms or other areas of the building for each school. The screening area will be used to check body temperature and ensure sanitization of every person entering the school premises. One student at a time to be allowed inside.

Students opting for personal transportation will be provided with staggered pick up and drop timings to avoid gathering large crowd near the entrance.

To ensure there is no crowding near the gate. Timings for each grade/section should be given for entry and exit to ensure the distancing. Each student and staff to be checked for face protection. Anyone with flu symptoms to be sent home immediately.

Fee collection:

All fees to be collected online only.

Parent Teacher Student Meeting:

Parent teacher meetings should be held online. All one on one meetings with the teachers and coordinators to be conducted online.

Reopening of School

Reopening of school in COVID-19 presents an unprecedented situation rife with challenges that are completely new to all of us. We must make appropriate amends in our habits and work methodology to face these challenges successfully. However, cultivating new habits requires time, cooperation and careful planning. Hence, we plan to adopt the following systematic approach. The Administrative staff has ensure that

○ Facilities such as projectors and other equipment’s in classrooms are functional

○ School premises has been cleaned and sanitized thoroughly

○ There is adequate stock of cleaning agents, soap and hand sanitizers

○ Safety measures such as fire-fighting equipment are serviced and in place.

We are carry out a thorough examination of our facilities and assess the situation at the end of every school day and plan for the following day accordingly. We are following the updates from the local and national government agencies and monitoring the situation in the city on a daily basis. In case there is an unforeseen outbreak, we have put contingencies in place that will ensure the safety of our students and continuation of their education without disruption. We are committed in our effort to create a safe and inclusive learning and working space for every learner and teacher. School will be conducting training sessions/brainstorming sessions regularly to update the teachers on ways to deal with students and ensure their safety.

Resuming Operations after the Lockdown (SOP)

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this document is to set processes to tackle the risks & challenges that we expect to face once facilities become operational after the COVID-19 induced lockdown. We have identified Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that must be followed.

PREPARATIONS BEFORE OPENING THE FACILITY

Airborne Risk Mitigation

1. HVAC Systems – cleaning the exhaust and air filtering systems before restarting operations thoroughly.

2. For facilities or areas that have been closed throughout the lockdown – open and ventilate the areas for the required number of hours, allowing for adequate fresh air circulation in the facility prior to opening. AC ducting systems must be run on fan mode for a minimum of two hours with all doors and windows left open, and the filters must be cleaned before switching to Normal mode.
3. Finalize Policies and inform the MEP team on the decided optimal levels for the following:
   
   1. Humidity – Optimal at 40% – 70%
   2. Temperature – Optimal 25c to 30c degrees

Surface-Borne Risk Mitigation

1. 7 days prior to opening, it is recommended that a deep sanitization cleaning of the facility is done.
2. 1 day prior to opening the facility, a ULV Antivirus Fumigation using an FDA/EPA approved Anti-Viral chemical should be done.
3. The frequently used surfaces including common lobbies, staircase railings, washrooms, lifts, door handles, glasses and other areas such as cafeterias and pantry to be sanitized and disinfected.
4. Deactivate all biometric processes, attendance & access control systems.
5. Visitor management processes & systems to be made contactless. Registers must be replaced by QR code technologies if possible. The alternative is to have a single person punch in visitor details.
6. Deliberate the need for installing available COVID-19 related gadgets and technology that can help reduce the surface borne load. Example – contactless dispensers, facial recognition and hear sensor software.

Policy & Behavioral Changes 

 The following processes will need to be followed as we decide to ease lock-down restrictions in a phased manner. The timing of this will be in sync with Government Directives.

 Many of the below mentioned policies, assume a partial opening of the facility.

1. An email must be sent out to all parents to not send their children to class in case of any symptoms of COVID-19. Students residing in government declared COVID-19 hot-spots should not be allowed into the facility.
2. All Policies related to the following must be emailed to the parents and students before the opening the facility –
   
   1. Security & Movement Control within the facility
   2. Cafeteria & Pantry
   3. Policies for incoming students, vendors and visitors
   4. Transport Policies
   5. Mailroom & Packaging Policies
   6. Carrying of Food & Water Bottles from Home
3. Everyone entering the facility will have to get their bags and shoes sanitized at the security desk. The security team will be given a disinfectant spray to apply on each bag before allowing it into the facility. The same disinfectant has to be sprayed on to the soles of everyone’s shoes before entering.
4. Adequate number of Digital Thermometers, Pulse Oximeters, PPEs, Sanitizers, and Disinfectants must be procured prior to the opening. SILA can provide support with procurement of the above-mentioned items.
5. Appoint a COVID-19 Committee with a Nodal Officer, to liaise with government authorities and coordinate.
6. Advise pregnant teachers, staff and visitors, if any, to continue to work from home.
7. Teachers and staff above the age of 55 years should be asked to continue to work from home.
8. A quarantined emergency room must be demarcated prior to opening in case any student, teacher or visitor is found to have symptoms of COVID-19.
9. All students, teachers, staff and visitors must be informed to wear masks and preferably gloves at all times when inside the facility. In case the students and teachers require masks or gloves to be procured by the institute, they must inform the administration office of the institute in advance for the same.
10. De-Densification of Facilities – Facilities must try and operate with a minimal no. of students, teachers and staff for the first month post the lockdown, and gradually increase the occupancy level over time.
11. Checking of all common critical amenities like lifts, DG, HVAC, UPS, RO Systems (or water dispensers) and Hydrant systems and Jockey pumps including filters and chiller water levels and refill the fresh water for proper functionality due to long time shutdown.
12. Arrangements for additional transport vehicles to be made in advance. Physical distancing is to be maintained in each vehicle.
13. Admin Team must have medical teams on standby, be in touch with the relevant government authorities.
14. Sitting charts of the seating arrangement must be displayed in the vehicle to ensure physical distancing.
15. The Administration team must prepare a periodic communication plan or template to constantly update students, teachers, staff and visitors of steps being taken in to protect the facility from COVID-19.
16. Deliberate the need and costs for Blue-Tooth enabled contact tracing technology at the facility.

AFTER THE FACILITY RE-OPENS

Air Borne Risk Mitigation

1. Humidity – RH of 40-70% (ideal at 55%) is to be maintained. Maintain the humidity levels by balancing the Flow of Air, controlling the % of Fresh Air, and by operating the AHUs.
2. Temperature to be maintained at the optimal temperature level (25⁰C-30⁰C).
3. Always maintain a positive air pressure in enclosed areas.
4. Try and increase the amount of Fresh Air Circulation. Target is 12x to 15x per hour to tackle COVID-19, however the ambient heat load must be accounted for.
5. All washable AC filters must be cleaned with 5% Cresol solution mixed with Water, or 1% sodium Hypochlorite solution.
6. In STP/WTP plants, the biocide treatment must be increased, and tested with less than 25CFU/v.
7. Aerosol generation from any water source such as the STP shall be avoided. Face fit tested elastomeric half face respirator shall be used.

Surface-Borne Risk Mitigation

1. Ensure sanitizers are available at most important and frequented areas of the facility. All students, teachers and visitors to sanitize their hands at the security desk. Insist on personal hygiene and mandate the use of sanitizers every now and then.
2. Increased frequency of cleaning of all high touch areas, using approved sanitization chemicals. Make the cleaning process visible to people occupying the facility. This will give them comfort.
3. Anti-Viral fumigation treatments must be carried out (recommended weekly).
4. Create a separate area/bin to deposit used masks & gloves.

Policy & Behavioral Changes

1. Students, teachers and staff residing in government declared COVID-19 hot-spots should not be allowed into the facility.
2. Any activities involving a gathering of people to be avoided and the same to be conducted via electronic media – Follow Social Distancing.
3. If any student, teacher, staff or visitor is found coughing, breathless, sneezing they must be immediately reported and shifted to the Quarantine Emergency room, and the Admin team must relieve them from the site and ensure the relevant government authorities or hospitals are informed of the same. The concerned person will not be allowed to reenter the premises until a valid medical report is furnished proving they are COVID Negative.
4. Staggered lecture timings for students to minimize footfalls in the facility.
5. Mandating the use of hand sanitizers and wearing masks and gloves until normalcy resumes.
6. Greet people the traditional way (Namaste) rather than shaking hands with each other.
7. Continuation of training and awareness regarding precautions to be taken on day to day basis.
8. Under the present circumstances, it is advisable to keep up to date with local rules regarding the control of the epidemic, closely communicate with relevant officials responsible for guiding businesses as they resume work.
9. If facilities have video display screens, create awareness about the COVID-19 and safety measures associated with it by displaying the necessary content.

Entry/Exit and Travel Policies

1. Transport vehicles to be sanitized by the transport vendor daily.
2. All student transport services to be re-evaluated. Policies for pick-up/drop & bus services to be amended to keep social distancing measures in place.
3. Student transportation vendors must ensure all students’ temperatures are checked prior to allowing entry into the vehicle (drivers included). The recommended range is 97.7 to 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit. In case a person falls outside this range, he/she must not be allowed to enter the vehicle.
4. Everyone entering the facility will have to get their bags and shoes sanitized at the security desk. The security team will be given a disinfectant spray to apply on each bag before allowing it into the facility. The same disinfectant has to be sprayed on to the soles of everyone’s shoes before entering.
5. All students, teachers, staff and visitors must sanitize themselves before entering the facility and be screened for body temperature using an infra-red thermometer. The recommended range is 97.7 to 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit. In case a person falls outside this range, he/she must not be allowed to enter the premises.
6. Visitors, Guests, including candidates being called in for interviews must only be allowed into the premises with prior approval from the Admin team/COVID Committee. They will have to follow the necessary protocol as mentioned above.
7. Biometric Access Control Systems & Attendance monitors must be disabled until further notice in order to reduce the spread of any infections that can be caused by touching a common surface (in this case, with the finger).

Cafeteria and Pantry Policies

1. Lunch and snack breaks should be extended to ensure that a minimum number of students gather at the cafeteria at the same time keeping in mind social distancing. Cafeteria entry to be reduced to 50% of its total capacity.
2. Food & Beverage (F&B) Vendors to bring packed food to the facility until further notice. Cooking at the facility should not be permitted.
3. The F&B vendor’s employees must always be wearing all PPEs and following entry & exit protocol daily.

Other guidelines

1. The classroom desk layout must be spread out as far as possible, or students should be required to leave a desk space between each other since the facility will be operating at a lower occupancy level.
2. Keep all the non-essential doors open permanently so that touching of surfaces can be minimized.
3. To minimize hard copies of files and paper being passed around at the facility, all students, teachers and staff must be requested to correspond with one another and maintain records via emails.
4. All mailroom packages must be sanitized upon arrival and then left unattended for a minimum of 1 day before being picked up and delivered.

Procedure if an Occupant is diagnosed with COVID-19 after the Re-opening of a Facility –

1. The concerned occupant must inform the Admin Team/COVID Committee of his/her symptoms and test results immediately.
2. The Admin Team/COVID Committee must inform the relevant authorities -the Government, SEZ, tech park, Industrial Park.
3. The facility must be quarantined and kept closed with immediate effect.
4. All the occupants of the facility that have visited the facility over the past 14 days must undergo a mandatory COVID-19 test with a certified government or private medical establishment, to check for the spread of cases within the facility.
5. The facility must undergo a deep sanitization cleaning and fumigation, as mentioned in the pre-opening process mentioned above.
6. The facility must be opened for use only after getting a clearance from the relevant governmental & private authorities.
7. Transport vehicles used by the infected occupant must be sanitized and quarantined by the transport vendor. All drivers and people accompanying or travelling with the infected occupant must undergo a COVID-19 medical test as well