Maharashtra govt on Monday passed a resolution on re-opening of schools in COVID-19 free gram panchayats for classes 8th to 12th after discussing with parents and by strictly adhering to covid SOPs.
The state government after discussing with parents decided to pass the resolution for commencement of schools in Gram Panchayats where there is no single covid-19 case. However, the government has chalked out certain criteria to reopen these schools adhering to SOPs.
In its resolution, the state government has laid down certain guidelines for reopening the schools:
1. The Gram Panchayats of the covid free villages before taking the decision of re-opening the schools in their arena should discuss with the parents first.
2. Children should be called in stages after starting schools.
3. All precautions regarding covid should be strictly followed. For e.g. Single student on one bench, 6 feet distance between two benches Maximum 15-20 students in a class, continuous hands. Washing with soap, using mask, sending students home if there are any symptoms and getting the corona tested immediately. Etc.
4. Teachers of the concerned school should be accommodated in the same village as possible, or they should be careful while using the public transport system while travelling.
Ever since the pandemic outbreak, all schools, colleges, educational institutions were shut across the state.
On June 16, Varsha Gaikwad, school education minister of Maharashtra had said that the regular schools with offline classes will be started in the future as per the advice of the local administration after analysing the Covid-19 situation.
“We are trying several methods such as community schooling, senior students teaching juniors, teachers educating students in their own vicinity or building in order to provide education to those who do not have access to online education. We are working on studying a system to track every student,” Gaikwad said.
Bridge courses are being initiated to facilitate learning. Gaikwad said, "The bridge course will be a review of subjects taught to students last year and, a new course will be launched in the month of August. This year, results of students will be prepared by continuously evaluating their performance along with conducting examinations."
