How Schools Can Prevent Covid-19 Outbreak by Adhering to SOPs

When the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic on 11 March 2020, schools were the first to close down. Neither parents nor the teachers were keen to keep the physical classes running.

Though online classes could not match the efficiency of physical learning, they posed no threat of infection to vulnerable kids. Thus, so many schools, even to this date, are happy to continue remote education.

However, in many regions including Dubai, physical classes have resumed lately. But the decline in daily cases doesn’t mean we can go back to school with a mind that everything is back to normal.

With the Omicron variant causing disruption all around the globe, schools need to be more vigilant when it comes to the compliance of SOPs. This is the only way the management can ensure the safety of students and teachers.

Below, you will find some important precautions that will prevent any Covid-19 outbreak under the roof of your school.

1.Cut Down the Class Attendance by 50%, Call Students on Alternate Days

Lately, this is a common practice all over the world to call students on alternate days. Fewer students in a class would mean easy compliance with the SOPs, students can sit at a 6 ft. distance from each other.

Likewise, there would be no mass crowds at busy spots of the school during lunch breaks, free periods, and at the end of the school day.

To avoid any disruption and keep the learning of all students well-paced, call them on alternative days. No more than 50% attendance in a class at a time.

2.Make the Mask Mandatory for Everyone

It’s difficult to convince Kindergarten students to wear a mask, but teachers (who are of age and are wise enough to understand the cost of negligence) should put on a mask all the time within the school’s premises.

This way, even if one of them is infected but asymptomatic, they won’t infect others – and most importantly students. Likewise, secondary school students should be encouraged to wear a mask, not just inside the school but wherever they go as one can get infected anywhere.

To make this easy, keep masks in every classroom. So no one can come up with an excuse for not wearing one; if they forgot theirs back at home, they can get one from their teacher.

3.Use Signs to Promote Awareness

The mind of an average student is primed to learn through signs. From memorizing alphabets to learning to count, spelling a word to memorizing fruits and vegetables, teachers use signs and visuals to shape the concepts in students’ minds.

The same methodology can be applied while promoting Covid-19 safety precautions and SOPs. Use prominent signs to encourage the use of hand sanitizers, frequent hand washing, avoiding physical contact with friends, eating their lunch together, etc.

If there are hotspots in the school that remain crowded during specific hours, place signs to remind students of social distancing, and why it’s not safe to be there among a horde of students.

4.Move Lessons to Outdoors if You Can

Increasing ventilation can eliminate the threat of a Covid outbreak within space. For the same reason, restaurants are arranging outdoor facilities for diners. Schools too can follow the same approach for the sake of teachers’ and students’ safety.

If you have a garden or playground in the school, move a few classes there. So you will have enough space available to set desks 2 to 3 meters away from each other.

Moreover, there will be less crowd inside the school at the end of a period when students move from one room to another.

5.Sanitize the Building Daily

Regular sanitizing and cleaning of the classes will remove the virus particles from the surfaces and floors. The virus can stay for up to two hours on a surface, so there’s a chance of outbreak if any student touches that and later eats with the same hand.

You can either call a professional team for this job or ask the cleaners to wash all the classes with disinfectants.

6.Sick Students Should Not Attend School

Even someone with mild flu and cold shouldn’t be allowed to attend physical classes. Fair enough, they have got their PCR which came back negative, but imagine how other students would feel if one of their classmates is sneezing and blowing nose continuously.

So if a student develops a fever, headache, or any symptom which could be a sign of Covid, they should be sent back home immediately. Regular temperature checks at the entrance will help the school to detect infected students timely and inform their parents.

7.Ask Teachers to Get Vaccinated

All teachers working in your school should get vaccinated as soon as possible. If you want to make it convenient for them, introduce incentives for vaccinated teachers.

There are numerous medical clinics in Abu Dhabi offering vaccination and covid testing services. Their vigilance and compliance to SOPs will help in the smooth continuation of physical learning of students in the school.