Confusion prevails over reopening of schools from August 17

PUNE Parents and teachers are confused about State government order on reopening of schools for Class 8 to Class 12 from August 17

PUNE Parents and teachers are confused about State government order on reopening of schools for Class 8 to Class 12 from August 17.

HT Image

On Wednesday, health minister Rajesh Tope said that chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray would discuss the reopening of schools with the task force, education department and health department.

“Maharashtra Covid-19 task force has unanimously expressed a fear about reopening of schools as all students are below 18 years of age and are not vaccinated. The CM will meet and discuss with v the education department about the same on Wednesday evening,” said Tope.

However, on Tuesday, the state government issued an order directing local governing bodies to take a call on reopening of schools if urban areas have been Covid free for over a month.

After schools reopened in rural areas on July 15, one school in Bhor taluka of Pune district reported cases of positive students.

Harishchandra Gaikwad, president of the Pune district principals’ association, said that confusion is prevailing regarding the decision to reopen schools.

“The state government has given the respective district collectors the authority to decide on whether to reopen schools or not. However, on August 8, the order issued by the district collector clearly states that schools in the district will remain shut. The recent decision by the government is creating a lot of confusion,” said Gaikwad.

He further added that even though students are not attending offline classes, teachers are regularly going to the schools.

“Around 90 per cent of teachers in the district have taken the vaccine against Covid-19,” noted Gaikwad.

In an interview on Wednesday, minister of state for education, Bacchu Kadu said that he is not in favour of only a few schools reopening now.

“We can wait for two more months and then start all schools at once. I am not in the favour of reopening only a few schools now,” Kadu said.

Sharing the confusion around the opening of schools, Pragati Kulkarni, mother of a Class 11 student said that there is a lot of confusion regarding the reopening of schools.

“Children are eagerly waiting for offline classes, but due to the pandemic, there is confusion if schools will reopen or not and for how long. With the threat of a third wave, I feel it will be very unsafe for children to attend offline classes as they are not vaccinated. Moreover, students may not really follow social distancing once they are in school,” said Kulkarni.

Dnyaneshwar Molak, additional commissioner of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), said that the decision to reopen schools will be taken based on the directives of the state government.

“A committee will be formed headed by the PMC chief and then the subsequent decision will be taken. As of now, there is no concrete decision whether schools will be reopened from August 17 or not. In the next few days, a meeting will be organised and the committee will decide,” said Molak.

Sunanda Wakhare, secondary school officer, Zilla Parishad, said that schools in the rural parts are being monitored each day.

“After reopening of schools in rural areas of Pune district, only one school was shut down after Covid positive cases were detected. As of now, 130 schools are running in the district. However, the school in Bhor taluka where positive patients were found is still shut. The decision on whether to reopen schools from August 17 or not will be taken on August 13,” added Wakhare.