College teachers fear getting Covid at work

‘Fresh protocols should be issued holding college managements responsible for reporting cases & contact tracing’

A woman personnel dressed as virus, creates awareness, at Egmore Railway Station, on Tuesday | Sri Loganathan V

CHENNAI: Amid the spike in Covid cases, faculty members at city colleges fear their health is at risk since they have to be on campus on all working days. They want the government to issue fresh protocols holding college managements responsible for reporting Covid cases and contact tracing on campus.

The faculty of a popular government-aided arts and science college in central Chennai told Express there has been a rise in the number of Covid cases on campus, causing anxiety among teachers. “When a teacher tests positive, we are not informed formally, but hear only after a few days through word-of-mouth from other teachers,” said Maria (name changed).

Devotees checking temperature before entering Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam,
in T Nagar, on the occasion of Ugadi | R Satish Babu

She said many teachers were exposed to infected colleagues while on election duty. “Some of us were even presiding officers, coming in contact with thousands of voters. A faculty on the administrative team, who came in contact with almost all teachers in the past week, tested positive, but we were not informed about it officially,” she alleged.

Another faculty member from the college said all teachers have been mandated to come to work in view of the upcoming NAAC inspections. “We interact with each other a lot and have to come to work,” she said. The principal of the college argued that all teachers in government-aided colleges have been showing up for work. “We ask them to take leave as soon as they have symptoms. So no other teacher would have been exposed,” she asserted.

A faculty member from another arts and science college in central Chennai told Express there is still a lot of stigma regarding reporting Covid. “Many teachers silently take leave, putting the rest of us at risk. We would like to work from home and take online classes from there. We would at least like a transparent system in which we are informed when our colleagues test positive,” she said.

She added that teachers with comorbidities or suppressed immunity should be allowed to work from home. “Across colleges in Chennai, the number of Covid cases is rising, and very few people seem aware about it. The government should act quickly before we have clusters everywhere,” she exclaimed.