Schools, colleges to reopen after August, follow strict social distancing norms- in two shifts

Agencies, 07 June 2020, New Delhi:  Schools and colleges will reopen across India after August 2020, most probably after August 15, said Union HRD Minister Ramesh Nishank Pokhriyal. All schools and colleges across the country, shut since the implementation of nationwide lockdown due to coronavirus outbreak, will reopen after August 2020, possibly after August 15, 2020, Pokhriyal also said in an interview.

On the other hand, the Haryana government has decided to reopen the schools next month– in a phased manner. Speaking to reporters, Education minister Kanwar Pal said that the state government will take feedback from stakeholders, including parents, teachers and experts and then it will take a final call on resumption of classes. In the first phase, Classes 10-12 would be started in July, followed by Classes 6-9, and in the last phase Classes 1-5 would begin, he said. The colleges and university classes will begin in August, the minister stated.

More than 33 crore students have been waiting for the reopening of educational institutes. According to reports in May, it was speculated that schools and colleges would reopen in July with around 30 per cent attendance and students till class 8 would stay at home.

After weeks of confusion among students, teachers and parents, Pokhriyal added, "We are trying to get declared all the results from the examinations this session by August 15." Pokhriyal said, "This means those exams which have already taken place before and those which are taking place now."

Pokhriyal also said that educational institutes would reopen in a phased manner; Green and Orange zones would reopen their institutes first and in order to maintain strict social distancing norms they would take place in two shifts.

UGC, NCERT guidelines to be followed for safety when schools reopen. The guidelines would help students, teachers and parents to ensure safety while schools reopen amid a pandemic.

According to the reports, all teachers would wear masks, thermal scanners would be installed in schools, only two students would be allowed to sit on three-seater benches. Moreover, the safety guidelines would also put up in several locations in each school and the DM and SDM of each area would further fine-tune them as necessary.

Source: Business.com. India.com