The state government is eager to reopen educational institutions at the earliest but is waiting because 85 per cent of the students have yet to get a single dose of a Covid vaccine, advocate-general S.N. Mookherjee submitted in the high court on Friday.
The division bench of the court headed by Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava is hearing four public interest litigations — three by individuals and one by the All India Student Federation (AISF) — seeking an order to the state to reopen the institutions immediately.
The advocate-general said the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was still active in the state. “It has to be kept in mind that students below the age of 15 are yet to be vaccinated,” Mookherjee said.
“Amid all these problems the state is very eager to reopen schools and colleges as early as possible,” the advocate-general added.
The chief justice asked when the government would be able to give the court a clear picture on the possible resumption of schools.
The advocate-general prayed for a week’s time from the bench to present a clear view of the government. The bench provided the state two weeks.
The case will again be heard on February 14, the chief justice said. “The state should come up with a positive programme for reopening of schools and colleges on February 14,” he said.
According to the CoWIN website, 28,87,297 children in the 15-17 age group across Bengal were vaccinated till 8.40pm on Friday.
A senior official of the state health department had earlier said they estimated Bengal had around 45 lakh children in the 15-17 age group.
The CoWIN website also showed that in Kolkata, 98,799 children in the 15-17 age group were vaccinated till Friday. Officials of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) said there were over 2 lakh children in this age group in the city.
KMC officials said very few students were turning up to get vaccinated in some schools in the city where the KMC had set up camps to administer jabs to children.
“We have asked our borough health officers to talk to all schools in the boroughs and find out whether camps need to be held in any school to vaccinate students. We are keen to increase the coverage of vaccination among children,” said Subrata Roy Chowdhury, chief municipal health officer of the KMC.
Advocate-general Mookherjee submitted in the court: “According to a study, 85 per cent of total students have not been administered a single dose of the vaccine. No student below the age of 15 has got a shot. The state is keeping this in mind before deciding to reopen schools.”
Moving the petition on behalf of the AISF, senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya submitted: “The education system in Bengal has collapsed because of the closure of educational institutions for so many days. Moreover, a large number of students have dropped out after they failed to adapt to the online system of education.”
Bhattacharyya said educational institutions could be reopened by adhering to Covid protocol. “Academic activities in schools and colleges can resume by taking proper safeguards,” he submitted.