Pune: Schools for all classes to open full day from February 7, says Maharashtra Dy CM Ajit Pawar

Schools for Classes I to VII in Pune will open for regular hours from Monday, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Saturday after chairing a COVID 19 review meeting. The decision was taken amid a fall in active COVID 19 cases by 50% in Pune. He clarified that all schools for all classes in the Pune district are allowed to open full day (regular hours) from February 7.

From February 1, colleges and schools for Classes 9 and up will be full-time, while schools for Classes 1 to 8 will be for half day so that lunch time gets excluded and students won’t have to take off their masks to eat, he said.

Pawar also announced that he has asked the administration to allow various sports competitions with 25% attendance of spectators as per the COVID 19 guidelines.

Pawar however, said that lower vaccination numbers in the age group of 15-18 in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad is a matter of worry and the administration will have to step up efforts to increase the pace of vaccination. "College students should get both doses of vaccines,’’ he noted.

‘’We propose to have mobile vans and make other arrangements so that vaccines can be administered in schools and colleges. At least 86 per cent of eligible children have taken the vaccine in the rural areas, while in Pune city and Pimpri Chinchwad, the number is less, said Pawar. He admitted that the number of COVID 19 cases has fallen in Pune in the last three days. He reiterated that there was no plan to relax the prevailing norms of wearing masks.

"As far as COVID-19 cases are concerned worldwide, there has been a decline in new infections, but there is a marginal increase in daily casualties. It has been observed at the district, state, national and global levels," the minister said. Active cases have come down by 30 per cent in the country, while in state, they have declined by 42 per cent, he said.