When will schools reopen in India? It's a question that's been on the minds of roughly 250 million students enrolled in India, not to forget their parents too. It's also a question that parents have either dreaded or dreamt of for different reasons ever since the lockdown started in March of 2020 in the country.
Students from Karnataka, Punjab, Bangalore, Uttar Pradesh and several other states, have flooded social media and search engines alike on the possibility and possible dates when offline classes will be resumed.
Himachal makes a bold move
This week Himachal Pradesh opened its arms to welcome tourists without an RT-PCR test. Just a few days after, it announced on June 11, the reopening of medical, ayurvedic, dental, nursing and pharmacy colleges. But the schools will open in a phased manner and students will be asked to attend on a voluntary basis. Which is why, all the medical, ayurvedic and dental colleges will re-open from June 23. While pharmacy and nursing schools will reopen from June 28.
Closed for summer break
On May 22nd Punjab Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla announced that all schools, be it government, semi-government or private schools, will remain closed from May 24 to June 23, for students, teachers and staff members alike. As for Haryana, schools will remain closed for summer vacation till the 30th of June, 2021. Further notification from the state government is awaited. Schools and colleges in Jammu & Kashmir too will remain closed till June 30.
A very similar announcement came from Telangana government which extended summer holiday till June 20, in view of the Covid cases in the state.
It's all online for Delhi, Assam till further orders
Just out of a deadly second wave of Coronavirus, schools in Delhi will continue in online mode for now. Sources say the classes are expected to continue in online mode at least till the end of second quarter of the current session.
Odisha Odisha Education Minister Samir Ranjan Das recently said the appropriate decision to reopen schools will be taken by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He also added that there is a threat to children in the third wave of Covid and only after reviewing the situation, the decision will be taken. Madhya Pradesh had also earlier announced summer break till June 13. Schools are likely to continue with online classes till further orders.
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the virtual school reopening festival on June 1. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Tamil Nadu government had ordered closure of all schools, coaching centres, colleges etc from April 20 and March 22 onwards respectively, when the states were witnessing a severe spike in Covid cases. The reopening date of schools has not been announced or decided yet.
Karnataka
State's Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar had earlier announced that the academic year will begin on June 15. However, with the extension of the lockdown, the schedule went for a toss. Also several private school associations in Karnataka had said they won't resume classes on June 15 if their demands for vaccination, relief packages among others were not met. As per sources in the education department, the government might consider opening some institutions from July 1 onwards but that date is also unlikely.
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh
As per several reports, Bihar was scheduled to open schools from next month onwards. The Uttar Pradesh government has not made any announcement pertaining the reopening date of schools. As of now, online classes will continue till further orders. Earlier, the UP government had issued an order that all schools and colleges in the state will continue with online mode from May 20 onwards.
When schools do open, what to expect
As of 2018, there were roughly 131 million students enrolled in government schools in India, while the privately-managed schools had 119 million students enrolled with them. Indian schooling system is one of the largest in the world and finally when it does resume, things won't be the same.
A written consent allowing children to attend schools and colleges is expected to be a legal necessity now in almost all the states. Apart from this, a few things will never be the same in schools. Maintaining physical distance in classrooms, face masks, use of sanitizers and respiratory etiquette will be a part of the school orientation and made compulsory.
Where schools will open only for teachers
Last week, several reports said that all teachers in Aurangabad city and 50 per cent of them in the rural areas of the district will have to be present in their respective schools after the end of summer break, but there has been no clarity on the issue in the absence of further orders.
