The school education department has issued a set of guidelines on the prevention and management of dengue that includes school-level awareness campaigns like rallies, distributing leaflets and graffiti and encouraging students to keep their households clean.
The guidelines also suggest personal protection measures against dengue.
The Paschim Banga Samagra Shiksha Mission has sent the advisory to all district inspectors of schools.
The advisory also mentions that school premises should be kept clean and free from waterlogging.
“Any cost towards cleaning schools by engaging labourers should be uploaded on the MGNREGA portal,” says the advisory.
The advisory was issued in pursuance to the meeting chaired by the chief secretary on July 27 at Nabanna.
Several deaths have been reported in and around Kolkata during the past fortnight and the number of infections has been rising.
The advisory has asked district education officers associated with the Paschim Banga Samagra Shiksha Mission to hold meetings with the district inspector of schools (primary education and secondary education) and heads of institutions in consultation with the district’s chief medical officer of health for the necessary measures.
The measures listed in the advisory state the distribution of “Information, Education and Communication” materials ondengue that will contain information on Aedes egypti. mosquitoes. “The students will be informed that it takes around a week after eggs are laid for adult mosquitoes to emerge. So it is a must to drain out accumulated water at least once a week,” said an official of the department.
The advisory says there should be “regular briefing of students during prayer time on safety and hygiene practices”. “The briefing during the morning assembly is a must because alertness has to be drilled into the minds of students. By personal protection we mean they should use the mosquito net while sleeping and consult a doctor if they have a fever instead of consuming medicine randomly,” the official said.
The advisory says the students may also be “sensitised” on outdoor preventive measures.
Outdoor preventive measures mean the students must keep an eye on whether water is accumulating inside discarded items such as tyres, and coconut shells around the school premises and their households.