E-Paper
Covid-19: Bengal to launch neighbourhood schools to counter impact of shutdowns
Schools in West Bengal were shut for the first time in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic before they were reopened in February 2021
KOLKATA: West Bengal’s education minister Bratya Basu will on Monday launch open-air “Paray Shikshalay” or neighbourhood schools for pre-primary and primary students even as educational institutions remain closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Officials said around eight million students will benefit from the project.
Schools were shut for the first time in March 2020 due to the pandemic before they were reopened in February 2021 for classes 9 to 12. They were closed later due to the West Bengal assembly elections and the second wave of Covid-19 thereafter in summer of 2021. Schools for class 9 to 12 students resumed in November 2021 and were shut again on January 3 due to the latest surge in Covid-19 cases.
“Even though the government could reopen schools for students from class 9-12 for some time in between, students studying up to class eight never went to schools after March 2020. Classes are being held online. Students have remained totally cut off from school education. This has severely affected them. Community schools could address this problem to some extent,” said an official.
Supriyo Bhattacharya, state secretary of United Guardians’ Forum, said neighbourhood schools cannot be the alternative for conventional schools. He said they are meant for government school students and asked what about those in private schools.
A public interest litigation was filed in the Calcutta high court last week seeking reopening of schools and colleges. The government is considering reopening higher secondary schools, colleges, and universities as the Covid-19 cases have dropped. The daily count of Covid-19 cases in the state crossed the 24,000-mark this month. On Sunday, 6980 cases were detected, taking the number of active cases to 1,3474. At least 36 people also died of the disease on Sunday.
