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22 states, UTs reopen schools; 92% teachers vaccinated: Centre
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who reviewed the reopening of schools and vaccination status of staff, called for restoring normalcy in educational institutions.
As many as 22 states and Union territories have reopened schools for all students, with over 92% of the teaching staff across the country vaccinated against Covid-19, the Centre said on Tuesday.
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who reviewed the reopening of schools and vaccination status of staff, called for restoring normalcy in educational institutions.
“Reviewed the vaccination progress of teaching and non-teaching personnel of schools, institutions and skill centres associated with the education and skilling ecosystem. With rapid vaccination at-scale in the country, we are looking at a future with restored normalcy and vibrancy in our schools and other educational and skilling institutions,” he posted on Twitter.
As per shared by the education ministry, while over 92% teaching staff were vaccinated across the country, the central government-run institutions recorded 96% vaccination among their teaching staff. Over 86% of non-teaching staff engaged in schools across the country have also been vaccinated, officials aware of the developments said.
The ministry data also showed that 22 states/UTs, including Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Assam, have reopened schools for classes 1st to 12th.
Six states and UTs, including Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, and Puducherry, have reopened schools for classes 9th to 12th.
Similarly, six states/UTs, including Ladakh, Gujarat, Punjab, Nagaland and Jharkhand, have reopened schools for students enrolled in classes 6th to 12th.
Only West Bengal and Manipur are yet to reopen schools, the ministry data showed.
While West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee last week announced that schools will reopen for classes 9 to 12 from November 16, Manipur is yet to take a call on the matter.
With schools remaining shut since March 2020, the Centre had allowed state governments to decide on their reopening keeping in mind the Covid-19 situation, in October last year. While several states had partially resumed physical classes, there was a complete closure again in April this year after a second wave of the disease hit the country.
With an improvement in the Covid-19 situation in August this year, several states began reopening schools even as concerns were raised over the staff and teachers not being completely vaccinated.
As part of the exercise, the Centre had directed states to document the vaccination status of teachers and non-teaching staff from secretaries of the school education department.
On October 22, when India achieved its landmark 1 billion vaccinations, the education ministry had sought a tentative timeline from central universities on achieving 100% vaccination coverage of their students and staff.
