Gwalior: The Scindia School, Gwalior has received a go ahead from the state government to welcome its students back to the campus after almost nine months. The school will open in a staggered manner with class XII students returning on the 11^th and 12^th January. This will soon be followed by class X students. The 123 years old boys’ boarding school, has once again topped the rankings in the annual EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) for the year 2020-21. The EWISR rankings are the largest of its kind in the world.

Welcoming the students, Dr. Madhav Deo Saraswat, Principal, The Scindia School said, “We are delighted to welcome our children back in the campus. It’s going to be a new experience for all of us as we are pioneering a new era in the Covid world as well as a new era in education. We are confident that we will provide a safe & secure environment to all our students and nurture them to strive towards overall excellence. We have taken all possible steps to keep our campus COVID free”

 The School has implemented a stringent safety protocol to ensure complete protection of students.

All students coming to the school will have to be certified COVID negative with the test being conducted not more than 72 hours before they arrive. On arrival there will be thermal scanning & oxygen level reading. All luggage entering the campus will be thoroughly sanitized in an innovative scanner which the school has built itself. 

Students will then be taken to a disinfected & sanitised facility where a qualified medical team takes over. Students and staff who come into contact with the students will be administered the COVID-19 test after a few days in isolation. An overall medical check-up will also be done. Students will be allowed to their respective houses only when the second Covid test result is negative.

Standard daily protocol includes sanitization of areas like the mess, the washrooms etc, monitoring personal cleanliness, ensuring intake of healthy diet and monitoring the quality & hygiene of all food.

The dormitories have been redesigned to maintain a distance of six feet between beds, and adequate number of soap dispensers have been installed across the entire campus. All washrooms and touch points such as desks, doorknobs, taps, floors, and switches will be disinfected at least 3-5 times a day.

The students will be instructed to remove their shoes outside the dormitories. All medicines to be taken by the students will be under the supervision of House Pastoral Team. To de-congest the main school building and maintain safe distancing, the school assembly, classes and daily meals will be in batches.

Responding to the steps taken by the school, parents have given feedback and  said; “We are satisfied with the steps taken by the school to ensure the safety of our children and are happy that they are returning back to school. Through-out the lock-down period the teachers have been in constant touch with us and have been demonstrating the steps being taken to implement safety protocols. I feel confident in sending my child back to school”

The Scindia School was one of the earliest to begin on-line classes from March 2020 itself and this will continue with all classes being a hybrid of classroom learning as well as online teaching. Apart from just delivering academic education, the school has also been conducting various co-curricular activities during the pandemic.