REVENUE DISASTER MANAGEMENT - COVID-19 – Infection prevention and control – Extending restrictions in the territorial jurisdictions of the State of Tamil Nadu upto 31.05.2020

© GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL NADU

2020

[Regd. No. TN/CCN/467/2012-14.

[R. Dis. No. 197/2009.

[Price: Rs. 3.20 Paise.

No. 202] cHENNAI, wEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2020 Vaikasi 7, Saarvari, Thiruvalluvar Aandu–2051

Part II—Section 2

Notifications or Orders of interest to a Section of the public

issued by Secretariat Departments.

NOTIfICATIONS bY GOVERNMENT

REVENUE AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT

cOVID-19 – INFEcTION PREVENTION AND cONTROL – ExTENDING RESTRIcTIONS IN THE TERRITORIAL jURISDIcTIONS OF THE STATE OF TAMIL NADU UPTO 31.05.2020 - PREPARATORY wORk RELATED TO ExAMINATION AND EVALUATION BY ScHOOL EDUcATION DEPARTMENT – PERMISSION AND ExEMPTIONS FOR cERTAIN wORkS AND ISSUE OF STANDARD OPERATING PROcEDURE UNDER THE DISASTER MANAGEMENT AcT, 2005.

[G.O. Ms. No. 246, Revenue and Disaster Management (DM-II), 20th May 2020,

வைகாசி 7, சார்வரி, திருவள்ளுவர் ஆண்டு-2051.]

Read:

1. G.O.(Ms) No.172, Revenue and Disaster Management (DM-II) Department, dated 25.3.2020 and addendums issued thereon.

2. G.O.(Ms) No.217, Revenue and Disaster Management (DM-II) Department, dated 3.5.2020 and addendums issued thereon.

3. G.O.(Ms) No.244, Revenue and Disaster Management (DM-II) Department, dated 17.5.2020 4. G.O.(Ms) No.245, Revenue and Disaster Management (DM-II) Department, dated 18.5.2020.

5. Govt. Letter (Ms) No.45, School Education Department, dated 12.05.2020.

6. Govt. Letter (Ms) No.46, School Education Department, dated 19.05.2020

7. From the commissioner of School Education Lr.No.014628/2020/coSE, dated 15.05.2020 and 19.05.2020.

8. From the Principal Secretary/commissioner of Revenue Administration, Letter No.OcI/563/2020, dated 20.5.2020.

No. II(2)/REVDM/348(h)/2020.

wHEREAS in the reference third and fourth read above, the Government have extended the State-wide lockdown from 00:00 hrs of 17.5.2020 till 24:00 hrs of 31.5.2020 under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 with various relaxations ordered in GO.Ms.No.217, Revenue and Disaster Management (DM-II) Department, dated 3.5.2020 and amendments issued thereon with State specific existing restrictions and new relaxations.

[1]

II-2 Ex. (202)2 TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAzETTE ExTRAORDINARY WHEREAS the School Education Department in the reference fifth and sixth read above has proposed to conduct following Examinations and Evaluation works relating to 12th Standard Examination as detailed below:

NOw THEREFORE the following arrangements are needed to be made for the above examination/evaluation process by the School Education Department and the Government issues the following orders accordingly:

• In order to ensure that social distancing norms are followed, only 10 students shall be assigned to an examination hall of 400 sq.ft area for writing examinations instead of existing practice of accommodating 20 students.

• All recognised schools having standards 10 and 11 shall function as exam centres (except in containment zones) to meet the requirements of social distancing and to minimise the travel requirements of the students/ teachers.

• As a result of the above, 3825 schools, already notified as Examination centres shall function as Main Examination centres and 8865 schools shall function as sub-exam centres clubbed to the main examination centres totaling to 12690 examination centres for 9.79 lakh students appearing for 10th Standard board examinations.

• 3016 schools already notified as Examination centres shall function as Main Examination Centres and 4384 schools shall function as sub-exam centres clubbed to the main examination centres totaling to 7400 examination centres for 8.41 lakh students appearing for 11th Standard board examinations.

• 36089 absentees, who did not write the 12th standard examination held on 24.03.2020 shall write their examination in the same examination centres where they wrote the earlier examinations.

• Around 46.37 lakh re-usable face masks shall be distributed to students, teachers and other employees for their use during examination, free of cost.

• Full disinfection of the centres shall be done twice daily before and after the examination / evaluation.

• If any exam centre is located within the containment zone, a nearby school outside the containment zone shall be designated as Alternate Examination Centre.

• Special Examination Centres shall be set up separately for students from COVID-19 containment zones as a precautionary measure to prevent their mingling with rest of the students.

• Students who travel from other states/districts shall be exempted from home quarantine only to write their examinations. They shall be allowed to write the examinations in the Main Examination centre in a separate room as a precautionary measure.

• The students residing in containment zones who have to write the exams, shall be permitted to enter and leave the containment zone on production of their Identity Card or Hall Ticket.

• Separate transport facilities for the teachers/students to commute to Special Examination Centres shall be ensured.

• About 2,21,654 and 1,65,969 teachers and staff shall be deployed for conducting 10th standard examinations and 11th standard examinations respectively. Further, about 43,592 and 62107 teachers shall be deployed for evaluation work for Higher Secondary and 10th standard examinations respectively.

• In order to ensure social distancing in evaluation centres, each evaluation room shall have only 8 persons including one Chief Examiner, one officer for scrutiny and six Assistant Examiners. Accordingly, additional numbers of Evaluation centres shall be set up for this purpose.

• Provision of handwash facilities with soap and running water /hand sanitizers for disinfection of hands shall be made adequately as a precautionary measure.

• In every district, 5 helpline numbers shall be sent to the students through SMS by the Chief Educational officers and the same shall be printed in the Hall Tickets through which the students/parents can clarify their exam related doubts/queries from 8.00am to 6.00pm.

• For the sake of inter-district and inter- state students who stay in hostels, all types of Government/private school hostels and welfare hostels shall function from 11.06.2020 till the completion of the examinations only for the students who write their board examination.

• The respective departments/ managements shall ensure that such hostels are disinfected before opening and twice daily thereafter and social distancing is followed.

• To facilitate transport of teachers and students during examination / evaluation, steps shall be taken to provide adequate Government transport / private school vehicle facilities duly following all precautionary measures.

Similarly, Government transport arrangement shall be made for the return of students/teachers/staff associated with examination/evaluation from another district to the district of examination/duty.

• Permission shall be given to the students appearing for the board examinations to return to their residences from other states/other districts based on their Identity cards or Hall Tickets duly exempting them from producing TN e-pass. Further, Permission shall be given to the students appearing for the board examinations on all the days of examination to travel from their residences in other states/other districts to their respective examination/ evaluation centres based on their Identity cards or Hall Tickets duly exempting them from producing TN e-pass.

The above exemptions shall be extended to the teachers involved in examination/evaluation process.

• Provision to issue fresh hall tickets for students in standards 10 and 11 and absentees of the Standard 12 examination held on 24.03.2020, shall be made through online which can be downloaded. Hall tickets shall also be issued to students in their schools according to pre-assigned time slots to avoid queueing, in advance, before the exam. However, students from containment zones/ quarantine due to travel shall not be asked to come to school to collect hall tickets. Arrangements shall be made to reach the hall tickets to those students at their homes prior to exams.

• Special permission shall be given to students and their parents/guardian from containment zones in other states/ districts to travel by dedicated vehicles to their native places. However, such students and parents shall be instructed to follow all safety measures. Similarly, if the residence of the students happens to be in the containment zone, they shall be instructed to adhere to the guidelines prescribed for such zones.

• All the above examination/evaluation related arrangements shall be done in accordance with the Government guidelines on prevention of cOVID-19 issued from time to time.

The Government also issues Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the conduct of Examination/ Evaluation as annexed to this order.

Annexure

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Examination and Evaluation Centres

with regard to COVID-19

The board exams in Tamil Nadu for standard 10 and for certain subjects in standards 11 were postponed due to pandemic prevalence in March 2020. These exams including re-exam for the absentees of 12th Standard examination held on 24.03.2020 are to be conducted as per the revised schedule. The evaluation process will commence in all districts from 27.05.2020 as per schedule. The Directorate of Government Examinations has provided all instructions for conduct of examinations and evaluation process in February, 2020. Apart from those, the following additional/modified Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is provided so that the examinations/evaluation process can be conducted following social distancing norms and minimising travel of students/teachers, taking care of pandemic containment requirements.

Chief Educational Officers (CEOs) shall ensure that no examination centre is located in the Containment Zone and distance of the travel by the students is minimum. Subject to this, the following instructions are issued:

I Social Distancing norms

(A) Exam centres

1. All recognised schools having standards 10 and 11 shall function as exam centres (except in containment zones) to meet the requirements of social distancing.

2. (a) Provision to issue fresh hall tickets for students in standards 10 and 11 and absentees of the Standard 12 examination held on 24.03.2020, shall be made through online which can be downloaded. Hall tickets shall also be issued to students in their schools according to pre-assigned time slots to avoid queueing, in advance, before the exam. However, students from containment zones and quarantine due to travel shall not be asked to come to school to collect hall tickets.

(b) Proper boxes must be marked on the floor/ground to ensure social distancing in the queue. The students must come to collect the hall tickets wearing a face mask.

(c) Alternate arrangements will be made for those students who could not download / collect the hall tickets.

3. In order to ensure that social distancing norms are followed, only 10 students shall be assigned to an examination hall of 400 sq.ft area for writing examinations instead of 20 students.

Additional numbers of Examination Invigilators shall be appointed for this purpose as required due to increase in number of examination halls.

4. On the date of the examination, social distancing norms shall be followed to avoid crowding at the gate.

5. The Head Masters shall make arrangements for waiting rooms in the examination centre where students can continue their preparation for the exam till they are allowed to sit in the examination halls at the time fixed, duly following social distancing norms.

6. The students shall be allowed to go straight to the waiting rooms as soon as they come to the exam centre and disinfect their hands with sanitizer. They shall not be allowed to linger outside the waiting rooms.

7. The seating arrangements in the exam halls shall be displayed in 4 to 5 places in the exam centres to avoid crowding.

8. The signages for social distancing shall be provided so that students do not crowd around the notice boards.

9. The chief Superintendent shall ensure that no vendors selling eatables operate in the vicinity of the exam centre. This is to prevent crowding of people.

10. Students who travel from other states/districts shall be allowed to write their examinations in the Main Examination centre in a separate room as a precautionary measure

B) Evaluation centres

1. Each evaluation room shall have only one Chief Examiner, one officer for scrutiny and six Assistant Examiners.

2. Seating arrangements shall be made duly following social distancing norms.

3. Arrangements shall be made such that the answer scripts/papers for each room shall be provided in that room on the chief Examiner's table and the corrected answer scripts/papers shall be collected from the same place after each session. This will do away with the requirement of queuing in the evaluation centres to collect and return scripts.

4. The seating arrangements in the evaluation halls shall be displayed in 3 to 4 places in the evaluation centres to avoid crowding.

II Special arrangements for students from Containment Zones:

A) Special Examination Centres

1. cEOs shall make special arrangements through Head Masters or otherwise, to reach the hall tickets to those students residing within containment zones at their homes prior to exams. They shall not be asked to come to the school to collect the Hall Tickets.

2. Special Examination Centres will be set up separately for students from COVID-19 containment zones as a precautionary measure to prevent their mingling with rest of the students.

3. The Head Masters of the Schools shall be responsible for the -identification of the students in Containment Zone and inform to the Chief Educational Officers (CEOs) for setting up of sufficient numbers of Special Examination centres.

4. Teachers and staff at Special Examination Centres shall be provided with requisite face masks, sanitizers etc.. 5. Separate transport facilities for students and teachers to Special Examination centres shall be ensured by the Chief Educational Officers concerned duly taking all precautionary measures and following social distancing norms. The drivers must wear face masks always. The vehicle must be disinfected after each trip.

6. Each such vehicle must be provided with adequate hand sanitizer. All the persons should sanitize their hands before entering the vehicle and leaving the vehicle.

7. A certain number of exam centres (cluster of centres) in an area shall be linked to one Special Examination Centre dedicated to students coming from containment zones within that area. There shall be at least one Special Examination centre in each block. In Municipalities / corporations / Blocks more Special Examination centres should be set up taking into account the cOVID-19 prevalence and the number of containment zones.

8. The name and address of these Special Examination centres allotted to students coming from containment zones should be available in each relevant exam centre, at all times.

9. This information shall be conveyed to local body representatives and parents/teachers who enquire about it.

10. Chief Educational Officers (CEOs) should have two teachers in reserve who are to move to the relevant Special Examination Centre for the conduct of exams as the Chief Superintendent and the Departmental Officer, when the need arises.

11. The Chief Superintendent and Departmental Officer of Special Examination Centre will have flexibility regarding the start time of the exams. They have to ensure that the exam time per student shall be kept strictly as per norms to 3 hours, with respect of their individual start times.

12. Teachers and staff whose residences fall within containment zones, shall be exempted from Examination / Evaluation duties. The teachers shall keep their Head Masters informed in this regard at the earliest. Reserve teachers and staff are to be identified for replacement.

13. One school per block must be set up as a Special Examination centre even if no containment zone exists in the block.

B) Alternate Examination Centres

1. CEOs shall obtain the existing list of containment zones from District Collectors/ Corporation Commissioners. If any exam centre is located within the containment zone, a nearby school outside the containment zone shall be designated as Alternate Examination Centre.

2. This centre will serve as the Examination centre of the students of the Main Examination centre.

III Precautionary measures and sanitization:

1. Prior to usage of centres for examination and evaluation, the premises of examination/evaluation centres along with furniture, hand rails, doors, windows etc. shall be disinfected properly following the Government guidelines already issued for the same. Full disinfection of the centre should be done twice daily before and after the examination / evaluation.

2. Provision of handwash facilities with soap and running water which is the most preferred mode of disinfection for hands shall be made adequately. In addition, hand sanitizers shall be provided.

3. Personnel/teachers/students shall only be allowed to enter the premises after washing their hands/disinfecting/ sanitizing. Suitable handwash with soap /sanitization provisions shall be made at the entry and exit points of the examination /evaluation centres and wherever required. Also, adequate hand sanitizers must be kept outside the exam halls and evaluation rooms.

4. The invigilator/handling staff shall disinfect his/her hands before touching the answer scripts/question papers/ additional sheets and distributing them among students.

5. cEOs shall communicate the Government guidelines for sanitization of public places to all school managements/ local bodies/health department officials for strict compliance by all concerned.

6. wash areas, toilets, dining areas etc., where people are likely to come shall be disinfected properly. Social distancing norms shall apply to such areas strictly.

7. The management of every school shall be responsible for the upkeep of their school premises according to these standards throughout examination and evaluation days.

8. Sanitization of commuting vehicles including private vehicles shall be ensured twice daily.

IV Social behaviour for pandemic prevention/containment in public places/exam centres/evaluation centres.

1. The chief Superintendent shall ensure that a clean face mask is used by all /teachers/students/ personnel involved in exam /evaluation related work.

2. wearing of face cover shall be compulsory in all areas of the exam centre/evaluation centres. Touching the mask should be kept to minimum.

3. Touching the face or any part of the face should be avoided.

4. Touching any surfaces of furniture/fixtures/railings/lifts/handles and other surfaces should be kept to the minimum.

5. Spitting should be strictly prohibited except in wash areas where the same should washed away in running water immediately.

6. Gargling twice by the students shall be ensured by the parents and teachers.

7. Reusable masks shall be provided to Teachers and Students.

8. Social distancing shall be maintained at all places.

V Co-ordination with Collectors/ Corporation Commissioners

1. All schools (Government, Government-aided and Private) having Standards 10 and 11 and such other schools as decided by the cEO, are required for the purpose of conduct of the exams. Hence cEOs shall approach the District collector/ corporation commissioner concerned, to free all such schools from covid-19 quarantine and testing and related public facilities, (if they have been put to such use by the District administration or the corporation) well in advance to carry out all preparatory disinfection activities.

2. CEOs shall obtain the complete list of COVID-19 containment zones within their jurisdiction along with period of containment and pass on the same to all Head Masters.

3. CEOs shall make wide publicity regarding special arrangements for students of containment zones, dates for obtaining hall tickets, contact phone numbers in close co-ordination with the District Administration VI Other instructions

1. Further detailed instructions regarding movement of question papers, collection of answer scripts and examination- related work in all the examination centres including Special Examination centres/Alternate Examination centres shall be issued by the Director of Government Examinations.

2. All employees/teachers/students must compulsorily wear their Identity card at all times, from the time of leaving their residence (during the transit, working hours etc) until they return to their respective residences, at the end of the day.

3. Hospitals/clinics in the nearby areas, shall be identified and list be available at all examination / evaluation centres at all times.

4. All employees /teachers/students should be thoroughly oriented on cOVID-19 with focus on hand washing, respiratory hygiene, social distancing, surface cleaning practices, self-care for any co-morbid conditions, seeking proper care at the earliest etc.

5. Employees/ teachers/students should be strictly instructed not to attend any unnecessary social gathering.

6. Non-essential visitors including parents shall not be allowed to enter the examination/evaluation centres. Parents/ other persons who come to drop and pick up the students/teachers should be advised to wear face masks and maintain social distancing norms while waiting outside the premises.

7. Camp officers/Chief Superintendents shall be held responsible for adherence of guidelines at the centres and should carry out compliance checks frequently.

k. SHANMUGAM,

Chief Secretary.

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