Educational institutions likely to reopen in July: Minister

PATNA Bihar’s education minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary has hinted at reopening schools and colleges in the state in July if Covid-19 situation remains under control

PATNA

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Bihar’s education minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary has hinted at reopening schools and colleges in the state in July if Covid-19 situation remains under control.

Chaudhary said educational institutions would be reopened in a phased manner, with resumption of secondary classes followed by higher and primary classes.

“If Covid-19 situation improves in the state, educational institutions are likely to be reopened next month following Covid-19 safety protocols. Students, especially the younger lot, are facing academic loss due to closure of schools,” he said.

Chaudhary also conceded there was a huge digital divide among students in the state.

“Amid closure of schools, we resorted to online classes through various platforms including Doordarshan, e-lots application etc. However, online classes cannot replace traditional classroom teaching. A large number of students are deprived of online classes as they don’t have access to mobile and internet. We have urged the Centre to provide digital devices to students under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan to minimise the gap,” he said.

The education department is also set to introduce catch-up course for compensating the academic losses.

Sanjay Kumar, additional chief secretary of education department, said the final decision regarding reopening of educational institutions would be taken after meeting with all stakeholders.

“We have designed catch-up course for classes 2 to 10 to compensate the learning loss due after the pandemic triggered closure of schools last year. Earlier, we intended to launch the bridge course in April but we had to put off the plan owing to lockdown and shutdown of schools once again. The course will be introduced at all government schools before beginning of new academic session so that existing and newly enrolled students overcome learning gap,” he said.

All government and private educational institutions have been shut in the state since April 5 this year.