4C’s for smooth functioning of School after the Lock down

We have been witnessing that COVID 19, has spread across across the world and it has led to health crisis .

Apart from the Police, Army & Doctors, even teachers are working hard by adapting the new technologies to educate the students, because the way we bring them up will determine the future of the country.

Even if the lock down is lifted still the of danger of virus would be there and we need to learn live with this till the vaccine is invented and available in the market.

In this situation we need to prepare, respond, and recover from this crisis and schools may follow the below precautionary methods to start the school after the lock-down has lifted.

4C’s to implement Health and Safety Management at Schools with the help of below five steps.

Step 1 – Set out your Health and Safety Policy

We need to draft a policy to implement the Health and safety at Schools .

Step 2 – Planning to be initiated

With help of 4C’s we can over come this crisis and the 4C’s are Competence, Control, Co-operation and Communication are a useful aid to plan for this crisis.

1. Competence

Training to be given for School Management, Academic, Non Academic , Group D staff on the sanitation of school and keeping school premises clean and neat.

We should educate each and every one of their responsibility of being safe, make sure that there are no gaps and that everyone knows their own responsibilities and everyone is aware of the consequences of their actions.

2.Control

On the first day call half of the school strength and train them in the new process and student should be aware of the rules to followed like Entry ,Exit,Transport, Field, social distancing and wearing mask etc

Entry Exit norms of a school – Parents at school gates need to follow a social distancing and wearing a mask is compulsory.

Sanitation : Has to make sure that the proper sanitation is done through out the school and need to give more attention at corridors, washrooms, visitor areas ,Labs & Library

Morning Assemblies : Assemblies to be conducted at the respective classes with a social distancing

Breaks – Short breaks and lunch breaks timings to be different for Primary, Pre-primary secondary and senior secondary to avoid the crowd.

Strictly no canteen to be operational and kids to bring the food from their homes only.

If a Teacher has cough or cold then teacher can teach from home .

Teacher has to be aware of the social distancing rules in the school and teacher has to get them followed by students and parents.

Note book Collection and correction need to be done once the sanitation is done to those books and if their is any virus then we can prevent it from affecting others.

Social Distancing in classroom :

Stay at least 6 feet from other people and ideal class capacity should be 15 to 20 students,which is going to be a half of the present strength in the school.

3. Co-operation :

Have regular meetings with staff at all levels to discuss safety issues. Listen to what staff have to say, their opinions are invaluable as they have first hand knowledge of the risks involved with their work. Create an environment where staff feel able to discuss problems. Don’t forget to include any Group D staff.

4. Communication :

Provide information through posters, Social media messages,whats-app messages ,notices, training to employees and visitors.

A detail circular should got to the parents and respective class teacher has to call the parents to make them aware of the safety measures and plan being implemented at school.

Ensure that feedback is given to employees to encourage maintenance of high Health and Safety standards.

Step 3 – Planning

• Option 01 – Split the school in two groups
• Option 02 – Split the school in two groups one as odd/ even days and other days as online.

Option 01 – Split the school in two groups :

• Group 1 – KG to Grade V -School timing 8AM to 11 AM with 5 days a week with 15 hours a week by this time reduces to half.
• Group 2 – Grade VI to X – School timings 1pm to 4 PM Every day with 5 days a week with 15 hours a week by this time reduces to half.

Impact on introducing the above timings:

• Teachers work would be 8Am to 4PM
• Transport cost increase to double and no.of section becomes double .
• Some furniture will not be age appropriate .
• Teachers spread out to teach wider group of classes.
• No of sections become double.

• Group 1 – KG to Grade V -School timing 8AM to 2pm on Tuesday,Thursday and Saturday with 18 hours a week by this time reduces to half.
• Group 2 – Grade VI to X – School timing 8AM to 2pm on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday with 18 hours a week by this time reduces to half.

Impact on introducing the above timings:

• Teachers work time would be 8Am to 2pm, 6 days a week and 36 hours a week.
• PTM’s can be reduced to 50% from the usual schedule.
• Some furniture will not be age appropriate .
• Teachers spread out to teach wider group of classes.
• No of sections becomes double

Option 02 – Split the school in two groups – ODD and Even days :

• Group 1 – KG to Grade V -School timing 8AM to 2pm on odd days in school & other days on online platform
• Group 2 – Grade VI to X – School timing 8AM to 2pm on even days and other days on online platform

Impact on introducing the above timings:

• Teachers work time would be 8Am to 2pm, 6 days a week and 36 hours a week.
• Training and parent meetings can be on Saturdays
• Syllabus as per board can be completed.
• No of sections remains same

As per my view if we can opt option two would be the best option.

Step 4 – Measuring Performance

To check that this policy is successful we need to create a checklists and inspection forms for various domains in school to ensure that standards are being implemented.

Step 5 : Audit and Review

We need to setup an audit team to review the process is being implemented as planned and also need check if changes to be made in the policy we design.

The audit should not be a fault finding process rather it should be a solution giver to the process.