Maharashtra schools may reopen for primary classes after Diwali: Report

NEW DELHI: The Maharashtra government is planning to reopen schools for Classes 1 to 5 post the festival of Diwali, as per a report from Mid-Day. The government has started the exercise of collecting feedback from rural and urban areas for reopening and the Maharashtra school education minister Varsha Gaikwad met the zilla parishads, the report said.

But, the government is yet to take a decision on reopening of schools for Classes 1 to 4 in rural areas and 5 to 7 in urban areas, the report said.

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Gaikwad discussed the matter with the zilla parishads as school education is imparted by them and everyone agreed on resuming physical classes after Diwali, the report added.

The state resumed physical classes for Classes 5 to 12 on October 4 after being closed for over 18 months due to the pandemic situation.

Until now, schools were conducting physical classes only in the areas with fewer COVID-19 cases. Last month, Maharashtra's school education minister, Varsha Gaikwad had announced that physical classes will resume in schools across the state and the government also issued standard operating procedures (SOPs) for it, said a PTI report.

According to the Maharashtra government, physical classes have started for classes 5 to 12 in rural areas and for classes 8 to 12 in urban areas of the state. But, the physical classes have not yet been resumed for classes 1 to 4 in rural areas and for classes 1 to 7 in urban areas, as per the PTI report.

On October 20, state colleges and universities also resumed offline classes which had been stopped for over one-and-a-half years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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In Pune and Mumbai, the attendance was thin on campuses on day one. As per the state government's directive, only fully vaccinated students are being allowed to attend classroom sessions.