Schools across Maharashtra are set to reopen tomorrow, October 4. Offline lectures for students from classes 5 to 12 will resume in rural areas and for classes 8 to 12 will resume in urban areas.
Ahead of the reopening, Maharashtra School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad shared a video on Twitter welcoming students back to school.
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Yesterday, the minister held a review meeting with the state education department, in order to ensure that the resumption of classes takes place in a hassle-free manner.
"For a smooth transition to physical classes, effective coordination with health department, local administration will have to be maintained. We are committed to providing a conducive atmosphere to students,many among whom will be returning to class after a year and a half," she said in a tweet, following the meeting.
She further said that the Maharashtra State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) will prepare an 'action taken plan' and help ground-level officials overcome any practical hurdles to the resumption of physical classes. "I have instructed education officers to personally visit schools and monitor reopenings," the minister tweeted.
According to the guidelines issued by the state government, apart from ensuring sanitization, social distancing and face masks, schools will also have to counsel students complaining or suffering from stress and depression.
Each and every school will have to maintain a sick room with the deployment of necessary medicines and equipment to treat Covid-19 students who test positive while attending classes. Regular health check-ups is mandatory and if any student is detected with high temperature or drop in oxygen, the child must be immediately shifted to the sick room and the doctors should be alerted.
There will be restrictions on sports activities, gatherings and workshops as it may lead to crowding. The government has suggested formation of small groups with the appointment of group leaders to avoid crowding. It will be the group leader’s responsibility to pay attention to co-students and inform teachers in the event of any student suffering from an illness, cough and cold.
Students' attendance to offline classes is not mandatory and those attending are required to carry consent letters from their parents.
(With inputs from Sanjay Jog)
