(TibetanReview.net, Mar04’20) – The reopening after the annual winter break of schools run by Dharamshala-based Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) on Mar 3 have been postponed for most of the boarding students due to concern about the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic. The announcement by the school authority came as India reported 28 new infections which included 15 confirmed cases from a group of 21 Italian tourists in New Delhi. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi has said Mar 4 that 88 people were under watch in the Indian capital.
TCV runs schools with total enrolment of around 8000 students in several states of India and the Union territory of Ladakh. The school authority said the move was a “precautionary measure. Its schools reopened only for the two day-schools as well as for students of Class 9 upwards as they will have to sit for board exams.
“The life of the students is more important than resuming classes at the moment,” TCV schools President Thupten Dorjee was seen saying on a Vot.org interview Mar 3.
It was not clear when the school will reopen fully given the uncertainty about the future trajectory of the Covid-19’s spread or containment in India.
However, Mr Namgyal Yemphel, the Director of Sambhota Schools Society of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) and Mr Karma Chungdak, the General Secretary of the autonomously-run Tibetan Homes Foundation Mussoorie under the CTA, have said their schools will remain open. They have vowed to follow thorough precautionary measures against any possible spread of the epidemic which appeared in central China’s Wuhan City in Dec 2019 and spread rapidly across the country and abroad with devastating consequences on society and economy.
