After HC order, T’gana stays reopening of government schools

The Telangana Education department on Tuesday issued a clarification on reopening of schools in the state, saying that except for the social welfare, residential and tribal welfare schools with hostel facilities, all other schools are permitted to reopen from September 1

The Telangana Education department on Tuesday issued a clarification on reopening of schools in the state, saying that except for the social welfare, residential and tribal welfare schools with hostel facilities, all other schools are permitted to reopen from September 1.

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A memo was issued to that effect by the secretary to government (education), Sandeep Kumar Sultania, based on a High Court ruling on Tuesday which asked the government to lay down standard operating procedures (SOP) to be followed by all school managements about the reopening of the educational institutional institutions in the state.

The state government had on August 23 announced that physical classes in all schools (including residential and welfare schools with hostels) would resume from September 1. However, city-based IAS coach and advocate Bala Krishna Mandapati filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the issue, due to the ongoing Covid pandemic.

The state’s plan to completely resume offline classes hit a break on Tuesday morning as a bench of acting Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and justice Vinod Kumar ruled that it is not mandatory to attend offline classes starting tomorrow for any child.

Based on the court’s directions, the memo from the Telangana Education department stated that it is now up to school managements to have either online or offline classes for children or a combination of both. It added that any undertaking by parents from managements absolving the latter if any child gets infected with Covid-19 would also not have any “legal effect”.

The Telangana government, led by chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), decided to reopen and run physical classes from September 1 and had issued guidelines for the same. The state is still reporting about 300 Covid-19 cases every day even now.

In the state, schools and other educational institutions have been shut since the academic year began, and classes are still being held online. After the government decided to reopen all schools, management were asked to create a customised seating arrangement along with a proper plan of physical distancing, aside from students being made to wear masks compulsorily.