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Schools reopen in Telangana amid Covid fear
Telangana school education minister Sabhita Indra Reddy visited Government Mahabubia Girls High School at Abids and welcomed the students by offering them chocolates, despite the fears of a possible outbreak of the fourth Covid-19 wave
Despite the fears of a possible outbreak of the fourth Covid-19 wave, all the 26,000 odd schools in Telangana reopened on Monday, after the 40-day summer vacations.
Telangana school education minister Sabhita Indra Reddy visited Government Mahabubia Girls High School at Abids and welcomed the students by offering them chocolates.
She said there was no need for the parents to panic over the recent spike in Covid-19 cases. “There is no alarming situation in the state. So, we have decided to reopen the schools as per the schedule,” she said.
On Saturday, Telangana director of public health G Srinivasa Rao said the Covid-19 cases are likely to shoot up in the state in the next four to six weeks due to BA.4 and BA.5 variants of the Omicron. In the past one week, there has been nearly 60% rise of Covid infections in Telangana.
In the light of the reopening of schools, Rao appealed to the parents to get all eligible children vaccinated. “However, there is no need to panic, as hospitalisations and disease severity is negligible,” he said.
The education minister said that the government had taken up an ambitious plan – Mana Ooru-Mana Badi (Our village-our school) to upgrade the in the schools at a cost of ₹9,000 crore.
She said that starting this academic year, English medium was introduced from Class 1 to 7 in all the government schools in the state. “In the next couple of years, we will develop the government on par with the private convent schools,” she said.
The minister said that the teachers were directed to conduct bridge courses for a month to help the students comprehend the English medium instruction without any difficulty.
She said textbooks worth ₹120 crore were printed and they will be distributed among the students by the month end. Like every year, the uniforms and mid-day meals will also be provided to the students.
