Amid spike in cases, Maharashtra to reopen its schools from July

Mangalore Today News Network

Mumbai, Jun 15, 2020: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday gave his nod for starting the academic year for students through digital and online platforms on a pilot project basis.

 

"The decision was taken in a video conference meeting with the state education minister. He has also agreed upon reopening schools in areas away from the cities that are COVID-19 free after taking adequate precautionary measures," the CMO said.

The schools will be opened only in districts where no coronavirus cases have been found in a month, while in other areas ’online schools’ will be functional.

As per the SOPs, the number of hours will be set for schools to conduct online classes for each standard. Students of Class 3-5 can will be asked to sit for up to an hour a day, Class 6-8 can be asked to attend upto 2 hours a day and Class 9-12 can be held for a maximum of 3 hours a day.

The government has banned online learning for students of pre-primary to Class 2. Students can be given instructions on radio,TV etc, but no online classes.

The government also plans to initiate phase wise reopening of schools in areas where there has not been a single Covid case for at least a month from July.

Schools can first start Classes 9,10 and 12 in July followed by Classes 6-8 from August and Classes 1-5 from September. Final decision of starting schools even in such areas would rest with the local administration as per the SOPs. Until schools are asked to reopen, they should conduct online education only.


courtesy:Yahoo