Corona scare: Parents unwilling to send wards on educational trip

Tribune News Service

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Bathinda, February 14

Amid coronavirus scare, parents of students of DAV College here are deeply perturbed as the college management has decided to take them on an educational trip to Science City in Kapurthala. Parents say that they fear for the safety of their children as people from different corners of the country and even overseas visit the Science City.

A parent requesting anonymity said, “Bearing the expenses of the educational trip is not a problem for me but the safety of my daughter certainly is a bigger problem. We do understand that the university authorities have given directions to make it mandatory for students to be part of the tour. But letting our kids travel at a time when there is coronavirus scare all across the country would make them vulnerable for the deadly virus attack. We demand that the college authorities must postpone the visit for some time and reschedule it to a further date until the threat of the virus subsides.”

Parents rue that the college authorities have made it mandatory for students and if they do not go on the tour, it would affect their assessment marks. On the other hand, the college authorities claim that they have safety measures in place. Sanjeev Sharma, principal of DAV College, said, “We have provided masks to the students who would be going on the tour. We are well aware of coronavirus, but there are directions from the Punjabi University authorities to conduct the tour and if we do not conduct it, then that would invite action against us.”

BS Ghuman, Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.