Mumbai Education department has decided to reopen schools for classes 1- 7 in Mumbai from December 15 instead of December 1. The state government gave a nod to reopen schools in Maharashtra on November 25.
A group of parents from Mumbai, whose kids are in the pre-primary section are appealing to the government to reopen schools for ages 3- 5 years.
Around 10,000 parents have signed an open letter asking to reopen schools for tiny tots. The letter is written to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to decide on the pre-primary school as soon as possible.
Parents have started an online campaign 'Open Mumbai Schools' appealing to the government to reopen schools for the pre-primary section.
"Our smaller children who go to pre-primary urgently need to get back to schools too. These are their formative years and not being in school is causing serious distress as their learning is all through sensory organs. They have already lost 21 months of this important learning and are suffering immensely" as stated in the open letter.
The letter also states that " State government should ensure that schools reopen within 7 days after the government has allowed them to reopen. If the government schools can open why can't private schools decide despite having all the funds and resources"
Geeta Agrawal, Principal of Euro School Airoli says, "If the decision is taken to reopen schools for the pre-primary section, we are prepared, we want a full-fledge offline class to happen for our kids. we would make sure that our kids come back to school as soon as possible."
Moneshi Shah, a parent of two asked, "These kids have never stepped out of the house without a mask. All the children are going to play areas, birthday parties, weddings so, why can't they go to school?" she even added, "If you are opening and allowing everything in the city, education should be the first thing to open and the last thing to close."
