Schools, colleges in West Bengal to reopen from Nov 16, says Mamata Banerjee

The announcement comes ahead of the CBSE and the CISCE announcing the dates for offline semester board examinations in November.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced that schools and colleges in the state will reopen for physical classes from November 16. As of now, only tstudents of classes 9 to 12 can attend schools.

Schools and colleges in West Bengal have been shut since the nationwide lockdown was announced in March 2020 to check the spread of the Covid-19 disease.  (Representational photo / AP)

The West Bengal government had in September hinted that it might allow schools and colleges to reopen in the state after the festive season, provided the cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) don't see a spurt.

Educational institutes across the state remained shut for in-campus classes since the nationwide lockdown was announced in March 2020, to check the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in India.

The West Bengal, meanwhile, asked all the state government-run and aided schools to prepare for the reopening next month. According to reports, the secondary and higher secondary schools have been asked to wrap up the process of repairing and sanitising the classrooms by the end of October.

However, daily cases of Covid-19 have been witnessing a steady rise since the past one week, after Durga Puja ended, with the state administration bringing back containment zones to check the spread of the virus.

On Sunday, Kolkata reported 273 single-day Covid-19 cases, the highest spike among other districts in the state while North 24 Parganas registered 146 cases. Overall, West Bengal logged 974 new cases on Saturday and 989 infections on Sunday.