Srinagar January 30: In a press statement issued by the PHDCCI Kashmir Chair Baldev Singh Raina request the administration that advance arrangements and announcements needs to be made in this regard on priority by making provisions for vaccine booster shots for teachers and requiried testing for students and unvaccinated teachers during winter vacation.
Baldev stated that Children are the “lost voices” of this pandemic, and at this stage of the pandemic we must acknowledge and follow the principle set by both the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund, that in a pandemic, schools must be the last to close and the first to open.
A delay in returning to in-person learning will put children’s mental health at risk. We believe that all children in J&K have a fundamental right to resume in person education and PHDCCI urge all representatives of associations to join us in reassuring the administration, parents, teachers and children that it is in everyone’s best interest to restart in-person learning as soon as possible. The government should announce specific measures for reopening the schools so that teachers, school authorities, and Children’s and parents would remain prepared at least month before the schools get resumed.
