West Bengal eyes November date for school reopening

TNN |  Sep 25, 2020 |  KOLKATA: The Bengal government may be looking at an early-November date for reopening schools in the state.

Senior Bengal government officials told TOI on Thursday that “discussions were on for a possible reopening of government and government-aided schools in the first week of November”. Private institutions, including schools affiliated to ICSE/ISC and CBSE, have been waiting for a state government notification on the issue and are likely to follow government-recommended dates for resumption of on-campus classes.

“We will be keeping a watch on the unfolding Covid situation,” a senior state government functionary told TOI. “We are looking at a possible early-November date (for resumption of classes) but everything will depend on the situation on the ground,” he added.

Many ICSE/ISC and CBSE schools now have online classes in full swing; most have held term-end exams as well and issued results. Schools have said this is not an “ideal replacement for classroom education” but have not been able to resume classroom teaching because of the disease situation and in the absence of any government notification. An overwhelming majority of parents supports this decision, surveys by several schools have revealed (which TOI reported earlier this week)