Maharashtra government decides to reopen all the schools in the state from October 4th, 2021.
On Friday, Maharashtra Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad announced that after consulting with the task force and health department, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray permitted the decision’s implementation.
The schools in rural areas of the state will function from class 5 to class 12, but in urban areas, physical classes will resume from class 8 to class 12.
How the decision will operate
According to the plan, the schools will get reopened in a phased manner. Until now, only schools were functioning only in those areas where Covid-19 cases were minimal.
Now, the rural and urban areas will see the reopening of schools of different grades.
All the collaborators will be fully responsible and maintain Covid-19 protocols like wearing masks, holding social distancing norms, using hand wash and sanitizers, and disinfecting school buildings and other properties.
The students of class 1 to class 7 will, however, continue with online courses currently. The schools are not to force students to attend physical classes, and it will be optional for them.
Furthermore, no student can attend physical classes without their parent’s consent regarding the matter.
Those who choose to stay at home will get provided with the required online materials, which will also be available on youtube.
Compulsory attendance for exams and other schemes is not applicable any longer as well.
Gaikwad mentioned that the school education department has handed over the authority to district collectors to implement the decision.
Moreover, every school will have to arrange PTAs to discuss the precautions and immediate steps to be taken by the school administration.
The Education Minister mentioned that the Pediatric taskforce too is now included in the standard operating procedure of the schools.
Current scenario of Maharashtra
The permission to reopen schools was already given on July 15th, but the procedures to reopen schools were issued on August 10th.
Previously, Maharashtra decided to reopen the schools on August 17th itself, but the initiation got deferred due to the Expert Committee’s concerns about the decision.
Maharashtra has reported 3,320 Covid-19 cases and 61 deaths, which hiked its infection count to 65,34,557 and ended the toll to 1,38,725.
In the last 24 hours, 4,050 patients got discharged from hospitals, raising the number of recoveries to 63,53,079. Several districts of the state have also not reported any new cases.
As per a survey conducted by the education departments of the school, 70 percent of parents agree to reopening schools.
The residential schools, run by the tribal development department, received no guidance yet, so online classes are the only option.
The state universities and colleges, however, may resume their offline classes after Diwali this year.
