Schools in Maharashtra, including Mumbai, are reopening for offline classes for pre-primary and class 1 to Class 12 students today, January 24. Maharashtra’s School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad had made the announcement last week and said parental consent would be important for attendance. The Minister also said that the local authorities have been empowered to assess the CORONA-19 situation and take decisions regarding the safe reopening of schools.
Announcing the decision to reopen schools, Ms Gaikwad said that the state’s parents and teachers want physical classes to resume. During our continuous interactions with parents and teachers, we received consistent feedback regarding the resumption of physical classes along with online education for better learning outcomes.
Parents not ready to send their children to school by survey:
A recent survey of cities across Maharashtra suggests something else. According to a survey conducted by online community platform Local-Circle in Tier 1, 2-3 and 4 cities of the state, which received 4,977 responses, 63 per cent of the total surveyed parents are unwilling to send their children to schools from Monday.
In Pune and Aurangabad, however, schools will remain closed. Deputy Chief Minister A. Pawar on Saturday said that no decision has been taken with regard to the resumption of physical classes in schools in Pune district as the CORONA-19 & OMICRON cases are on the rise.
To ensure the health and safety of the students, schools will ensure strict adherence to the CORONA-19 & OMICRON protocols and SOPs. Students and teachers will wear masks at all times and only one student will sit on a bench. Vaccination campaign for older students will be intensified.
The West Bengal education department is all set to launch a new initiative ‘Paraya Shikshalaya’ (neighborhood schools), under which primary and pre-primary students of government schools will be given lessons in open spaces, an official confirmed on Sunday.
The project, after obtaining the approval of the State Secretariat ‘Nabanna’, will involve para-teachers and primary school teachers to provide elementary education to students of Class 1 to Class 5.
Children have long been deprived of tutorial lessons due to the CORONA-19 & OMICRON pandemic-induced restrictions. We have now decided to hold classes in the open ground. Apart from elementary education, students will be encouraged to participate in extra-curricular activities such as speech and painting.
