Coronavirus: Over 6 crore children at home as states close schools

NEW DELHI : Several states have shut schools to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic, most of them till March 31.

So far, the state governments of Uttarakhand, Manipur, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha have issued directives for the closure of all government and private schools in the states. The schools in Uttar Pradesh will remain closed till March 22. The Centre’s school education secretary had earlier written to the states to take precaution. As per latest data, shared by the government in Parliament in July 2019, schools in these states together enrol over 6.2 crore children.

All schools and colleges in Delhi were closed down on Thursday. A similar notice was issued in the union territories of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh on Wednesday.

In Banglore, the primary and secondary education minister, S Suresh Kumar announced summer vacation for Class to 5 starting from March 13, Bangalore Mirror reported. On Friday, the health minister of Karnataka confirmed that a 76-year old man who died in Kalaburagi district was tested positive for COVID-19. This was the first death in India which has seen 75 confirmed cases of coronavirus infections so far.

Enrolment in schools

The coronavirus pandemic, as declared by the World Health Organisation, has disrupted the schooling of lakhs of children. According to data shared in Parliament in 2019, these are the numbers of children enrolled in schools across the eight states and Union Territories, taking Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh together:

Delhi alone has close to 40 lakh children attending its public and private schools. There are 21,32,512 students enrolled in Classes 1 to 12 in government and private schools of Uttarakhand. The Uttarakhand secretary of education, Meenakshi Sundaram informed the schools to remain closed for the “safety of children and people”, reported The New Indian Express.

Of these states, Uttar Pradesh has the largest population of children enrolled- over 3 crore followed by Odisha which has 65 lakh students. In a press conference called on Friday, Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of UP said the state government is reaching out to people through awareness drives at school and community level. In Odisha, cinema halls, swimming pools, and gyms are also to be closed till March 31.

According to Hindustan Times , schools, as well as colleges in Chhattisgarh, have been closed till March 31. However, in all the states, the educational institutes will remain open for scheduled examinations. Over 56 lakh students are enrolled in schools in Chattisgarh.

Kerala has 15, 13,759 students enrolled in government and 16,03,033 in private schools. The state has shut all its early childhood care and education centres, called anganwadis, as well and mid-day meals served to children are being delivered to their homes.

In Manipur, a notification issued by T Ranjit Singh, commissioner, education-schools, stated that the closure of schools is to “ensure the reduction of mass gathering”.

Schools Abroad

In compliance with the directives of the Indian embassy in Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has issued a notice for the “strict closure” of schools to reduce the coronavirus risk. Therefore, the CBSE exams of Class 10 and 12 students have also been suspended until further notice as a preventive measure.

In Kuwait, one exam for Class 10 students is left and seven more exams are yet to be conducted for Class 12 students. After continuous intervention from the Union government the exams have been suspended, Mathrubhumi reported.

Update: This copy has been updated to include the states that declared holidays on March 13.

Also read:
Coronavirus: UNICEF, WHO, IFRC jointly issue advisory for schools
Coronavirus: Advisories for schools from states, Centre

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