‘Finally. What a blessing: Anand Mahindra on reopening of schools

Anand Mahindra, Mahindra and Mahindra chairman, on Thursday expressed happiness over reopening of schools in many states in the country after one-and-a-half year. The schools in India were shut down in March 2020 after the outbreak of COVID pandemic.

At least seven states, including Haryana and Punjab have opened schools for certain classes with certain COVID restrictions. Maharashtra and Delhi, too, have opened the schools for students.

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Mahindra reacted to the news of reopening of schools and said schooling from home was never a substitute.

He tweeted, “Finally. What a blessing. Schooling from home is never a substitute for the social experience that is essential when growing up. I hope we can look back and see this as the ‘beginning of the end’ of the pandemic.”

India is reporting a dip in COVID cases but it is still in 35,000-45,000 range. In May, when India battled the deadly second wave, the daily cases had gone to over 4 lakh.

Though there are reports of third wave of COVID hitting India in September end-October, state governments have educational institutions to continue with online class along with offline mode.

According to reports, the Kerala government has decided to set up an expert panel to study the present circumstances in the state and see whether schools can be opened.

India recorded 47,092 new cases on Thursday as the country’s total tally of cases rose to 3,28,57,937. The last time the daily cases were higher than this was 63 days ago (July 1), when the country reported 48,786 cases.

The number of active cases has climbed to 3,89,583 and comprise 1.19% of the total infections, according to Union health ministry data updated on Thursday.

It said that active cases increased by 11,402 in a span of 24 hours.