School Reopening: Maharashtra teachers welcome students with flowers, balloons, sanitizers

NEW DELHI: Schools across Maharashtra welcomed students back on campuses with flowers, balloons, sanitisers and social distancing protocols. Students appeared excited while entering the schools and meeting their friends, classmates and teachers after a long gap.

Maharashtra government resumed physical sessions for classes 5 to 12 on Monday after being shut for over a year-and-a-half in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic

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At the school gates, authorities ensured that all the students wore proper masks and sanitised their hands before entering the premises, and only one student was asked to sit on a single bench in classrooms, said a PTI report.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said the decision to reopen schools was a "very difficult" one, and appealed to teachers and parents to take care of the students. Until now, schools were conducting physical classes only in those areas which were reporting relatively fewer COVID-19 cases.

I am extending my heartfelt wishes & good tidings to all students, teachers & parents on the first day of school. It is our responsibility to take care of the children; let us sail through it together & ensure schools do not have to be closed again. #MajheVidyarthiMajhiJababdari pic.twitter.com/Rs2s9dnTrG

— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) October 4, 2021

Thackeray on Monday unveiled the logo of a campaign called 'My Student: My Responsibility' in the presence of state education minister Gaikwad and other government officials at his official residence in Mumbai. "Today, we are seeing the gates of schools have opened, but it is not just the gates which have opened, it is the door of their future and progress. The decision was taken very carefully," Thackeray said.

"Take the responsibility of your child. If a teacher does not feel well, he/she should undergo a test immediately," he said. Thackeray also suggested keeping doors and windows of classrooms open for proper aeration, disinfecting them when students are not around and keeping classrooms and toilets clean. At a school in suburban Jogeshwari, teachers and school management members showered flower petals on students when they entered the premises. Various schools welcomed the students with 'rangolis' (colourful traditional patterns), flowers and balloons on the first day of reopening of the institutions.

Member of parliament, Supriya Sule visited a zilla parishad school in Pune and welcomed the students with flowers. "With the arrival of students, the schools (vidyamandirs) have once again been truly beautified," the Lok Sabha member from Baramati in Pune said in a tweet.

कोरोनाच्या संकटामुळे गेल्या दीड वर्षांपासून बंद असलेल्या राज्यभरातील शाळा आजपासून पुन्हा सुरू होत आहेत. विद्यार्थ्यांच्या आगमनाने पुन्हा एकदा विद्यामंदिरांना खऱ्या अर्थाने शोभा आली आहे.यानिमित्त आज जिल्हा परिषदेच्या शाळेत भेट देऊन सर्व विद्यार्थ्यांचे गुलाबपुष्प देऊन स्वागत केले. pic.twitter.com/xdrEG5ztaN

— Supriya Sule (@supriya_sule) October 4, 2021

The Maharashtra education department conducted a meeting on Sunday to take stock of the situation before resuming physical classes in schools. "For a smooth transition to physical classes, effective coordination with the health department, local administration will have to be maintained. We are committed to providing a conducive atmosphere to students, many among whom will be returning to class after a year and a half," minister Gaikwad had tweeted after the meeting.

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