Schools reopen in Bengal for primary, upper-primary students after almost 2 yrs

The students are returning to schools since the Covid-19 pandemic forced the closure of educational institutes in March 2020

KOLKATA: Schools for primary and upper-primary students reopened in West Bengal on Wednesday almost two years after the Covid-19 pandemic forced the closure of educational institutes in March 2020. High and higher secondary institutes were reopened when Covid numbers dropped but primary and upper-primary sections remained shut throughout.

Schools were planning to screen movies and cartoons for the first few days to help students acclimatise. (Ht Photo/Representative Image)

“Schools were properly sanitised on Tuesday. Students and teachers have to wear masks all the time. Proper care would be taken to maintain all Covid-19 protocols and generate awareness about the disease,” said an education department official.

Schools were planning to screen movies and cartoons for the first few days to help students acclimatise. “Cartoons and children’s movies would be screened for the kids every day for half an hour over the next few days. Classes would also be held simultaneously. Education would be imparted through games to make students comfortable,” said Debabrata Mukherjee, headmaster, Sanskrit Collegiate School, Kolkata.

At the Shastriji Harijan Vidyamandir, students were being given roses and chocolates upon their arrival on the first day. Classes were being held on a rotational basis to maintain Covid-19 protocols in some schools.

The state government reopened primary and upper-primary schools as the daily Covid-19 cases have dropped to around 350 from 24,000 in the second week of January.

A second official said school-going children have particularly suffered the most due to the closure of educational institutes. “As the Covid-19 cases dropped, the chief minister [Mamata Banerjee] asked the state government to explore whether schools [primary and upper primary sections] could be reopened.”

Schools for students from classes 8 to 12 reopened on February 3. On February 7, the state government also launched open-air “neighbourhood classes” for students of primary and upper-primary classes.