New Delhi, Feb 6: As many as seven states from across the state are to re-open their schools from Monday, as Covid-19 cases witness a steady decline. Pertinently, most of the states had shut their educational institutions in late December and early January.
While this resumption of formal offline schooling is being welcomed across the country, anxiety continues to grow across Jammu & Kashmir for the continuous closure of schools. Jammu & Kashmir’s schools remain closed for the last about two-and-a-half years now, with widespread anxiety about the loss of key learning milestones for most children from grade 1 to 10.
The reopening of schools by seven states comes in the wake of. the central government on 3 February issuing revised guidelines for the reopening of schools, allowing the states to take the final call based on their overall Covid situation.
The Centre has said that all districts whose Covid-19 positivity rate is below 5% can reopen schools now.
“The pandemic situation has improved. There are states and districts of concern, but overall there is a contraction in the spread of infection which is heartening. There are 268 districts where the positivity is below 5%,” said Niti Ayog member (health) VK Paul.
“And clearly, these districts can move in the direction of non-Covid care and also in the direction of other economic activities as well as school reopening,” he added.
Noting that the nation is concerned that there has been a significant learning loss, Paul said schools should be open at the “earliest opportunity but also appropriate time”.
In view of this, several states have announced that schools will reopen from Monday. Here are the states that will open schools from Monday:
Delhi: Schools in Delhi will reopen for classes 9 to 12 from 7 February, while that of the nursery to standard 8 from 14 February, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has decided.
Kerala: The Kerala government has decided to start offline classes for students of standard 10, 11 and 12, and universities from Monday. The classes for children from standard 1 to 9, creche and kindergarten will start from 14 February.
Maharashtra: Schools and colleges in Maharashtra’s Pune will open full day (regular hours) from Monday.
Gujarat: All government, private and grant-in-aid schools in Gujarat will reopen for classes 1 to 9 from 7 February, said the state government in a circular on Saturday.
Uttar Pradesh: The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to reopen schools from Monday for classes 9 to 12.
Bihar: The Bihar government has announced that schools up to class 8 can re-open with 50% capacity and all schools for classes 9 and above will re-open at full capacity.
Odisha: The Odisha government on Friday announced its decision to re-open schools and colleges from 7 February. “After reviewing the current Covid-19 situation and loss of learning faced by students, the state government has decided to re-open schools and colleges,” said Suresh Chandra Mahapatra, the chief secretary.
