Keypoints:
- On Saturday, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray allowed schools to open for classes 9th to 12th after Diwali.
- The school education department has set November 23 as the date to resume physical classes.
Along with the schools getting reopened, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray also said that shrines may also open after the occasion of Diwali. The school education department who proposed to resume schools, has set the date of November 23 to resume physical classes. A meeting of the department was chaired by the CM to review the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) that the schools must follow.
The state school education minister Varsha Gaikwad said on Saturday’s meeting that a mass drive of RT-PCR testing of teachers will be conducted by local administrations between 17 and 22 November. Only the teachers whose reports are negative, will be allowed to conduct classes. In order to follow COVID 19 protocols, she also said that thermal screening of all students will be done before they are allowed inside classrooms and seating arrangements will be changed to allow only one student per bench.
Image credits: The Times Of India
The state school education minister Varsha Gaikwad said that, “Classes will be held on alternate day basis. And physical classes will not be on for more than four hours. Only selected subjects like maths and science where teachers intervention is required will be taken up for physical classes, the remaining subjects will continue online.”
Starting physical schools is not compulsory for schools and even for students, says senior officials. Online classrooms for all subjects will continue. For the students to attend classes, it will be mandatory for the parents to fill the consent form.
Most of the schools might still decide to wait and watch how and what the situation is in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
Schools will be started in phase-wise manner and discussions with the local administrations will be held by the department. There will be no tiffin breaks for the students, as a part of the new normal; they will have to eat from home and then go to school. Water filling spots will be discontinued and students will have to individually carry their water bottles.
From September 21, the centre allowed partial reopening of schools for higher standards, the Maharashtra government has decideded in the cabinet meeting in the month of October that the state would think about this post Diwali.
