School premises are safe: Chairman PHI Union

Chairman of the Public Health Inspectors Union of Sri Lanka Upul Rohana in a message to parents said that school premises are safe and asked them not to fear sending their children to school.

He also informed parents that plans have been made both inside and outside schools to take immediate action if a situation which requires attention occurred. "The Health Ministry in cooperation with the Education Ministry has issued formal health guidelines required for children to receive education inside schools including how to send children to schools, means of coming to schools, how children should stay during the day and how they should be taken home in the afternoon.

Schools will be held following those guidelines. Public Health Inspectors and Medical Officers of Health will inspect schools beginning today. If there is any drawback, we will take necessary action.

Do not be afraid to send children to school. So far clusters or patients have not been reported from schools. You are sending the child to a safe school. People are barely following the regulations. We received many complaints about people from different areas behaving recklessly in areas such as Nuwara Eliya, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Jaffna and Anuradhapura. The decision to lift the restrictions will be based on the behaviour of people. If they fail to act with a sense of responsibility, the pandemic will get out of control,” he added.(Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe)