The Bengal School Education Department recently issued a directive to all schools asking them to maintain cleanliness and remove stagnant water from campuses to prevent the spread of dengue.
The circular comes ahead of the pre-monsoon season when the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, responsible for the spread of the vector-borne disease, starts multiplying.
At a meeting of the ‘Core Group on Prevention and Management of Dengue’ chaired by the chief secretary at the state secretariat Nabanna on February 28, the district inspectors of schools were asked to ensure that all institutions under their jurisdiction take proactive steps to curb mosquito breeding.
According to the memo, the schools must also conduct regular awareness drives, like briefing students during prayer time about maintaining hygiene at the campus and in their households.
Routine inspections must also be carried out to identify and remove stagnant water from any open container, flower pot, drain or other water accumulation points.
The memo also notes that all water storage tanks should be covered properly and the tanks should be cleaned periodically. The schools have also been asked to coordinate with local authorities for periodic fogging and larvicide spraying.
The institutions have been instructed to advise students and teachers to report symptoms of dengue like high fever, severe headache, joint pain and rashes for timely medical intervention. To ensure compliance, additional district inspectors of schools, assistant inspectors of schools and sub-inspectors of schools have been directed to include ‘dengue prevention monitoring’ in their routine inspections.
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There are around 1.7 crore students in government and government-aided schools in the state.
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