Several schools have asked parents to keep children at home if they are suffering from fever, cold and cough. The schools want the ailing children to stay at home even if there is an exam or assessment.
The heads of at least two schools said they would call the parents and ask them to take children back home if they are found to be with symptoms suggestive of viral infections.
The city has been in the grip of a viral surge for several weeks and children are most vulnerable to infections.
Usually, there is a tendency among parents to give medicines to children if they are suffering from fever and cough and send them to school if there is an exam, teachers of several schools said.
“If a child has any of the flu symptoms like fever, cough and cold, we have asked parents not to send them to school. If we find they have come to school, we will call parents and ask them to take the children back. We cannot allow those children to sit in a classroom with others,” said Terence Ireland, principal, St James’ School.
Ireland said the ailing children would not be penalised if they miss a test and would be given “medical benefit”.
“We will not give them any rank. We will have to be strict for the safety of others,” he said.
In many schools, final exams are on. For junior classes, this is the time for assessments or short tests.
The rule that children with symptoms of viral infections should stay away from class has been in force in many schools since before the pandemic. It needs to be reiterated following the current spurt in viral infections, principals said.
At St James’ School, the principal has been signing 15 to 20 leave applications daily for the past 10 days, officials of the school said.
At BD Memorial, officials said a number of students are staying away from class because of medical emergencies.
“Despite this being the final term, we have the option of considering the year’s performance or organising a retest, if required. We cannot risk the safety of other children,” said Suman Sood, director, BD Memorial.
“We tell parents not to send children to school if they are ill,” said Rupkatha Sarkar, principal, La Martiniere for Girls.
Damayanti Mukherjee, principal of Modern High School for Girls, said the school always discourages parents to send children to class when they are sick.
The Telegraph has reported that doctors are urging people to follow the Covid protocol — such as wearing masks in crowded places and washing hands frequently — to reduce the chances of infection.
“If children are getting infected, they should be kept at home so that they do not spread the infections,” said Apurba Ghosh, director, Institute of Child Health.
