Maharashtra announces reopening of schools from January 24 amid dip in COVID cases

The Maharashtra government on Thursday announced that schools would be reopened for Classes 1 to 12 for offline sessions from Monday, along with pre-primary sections, January 24.

The government’s decision was announced by Professor Varsha Gaikwad, the state’s minister for school education, who added that written instructions would be issued to schools “either today or tomorrow” detailing the procedures to be followed. The government has said that standard operating procedures (SOPs) for COVID-19 will remain in place when schools reopen.

Also read | Pakistan: Deadly bomb blast in Lahore kills two and leaves several injured

“The chief minister gave consent to reopen offline schools for classes 1 to 12. Till now, pre-primary schools too were shut. But we have decided to reopen pre-primary schools as well. Wherever COVID cases have gone down, the schools will reopen from January 24. However, COVID-appropriate behaviour, the SOPs issued by the government must be followed by the schools,” said Gaikwad.

However, she added that the government would go about the reopening of schools in a nuanced manner, given the varying distribution of COVID-19 cases across the state.

“We are not talking about a blanket reopening of schools. Local bodies have the authority to decide depending on the Covid-19 situation in the city or district,” said the minister, highlighting an important detail.

Schools across the state were ordered to shut down operations in January following a massive spike in COVID-19 cases and because of the emergence of cases of omicron infections, the new, highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus.

Since then, case counts have declined and the curve has relatively flattened, and the decision to reopen schools was taken in view of the improving situation and after consultations with various stakeholders, said the government.

Also read | Budget 2022: Infra sector expects investment push for NPE, Make-in-India

“We have received several representations from parents’ associations, schools, elected representatives, etc, to reopen schools. They all contended that the children are missing out on the social environment, school atmosphere, interactions etc. Our priority has always been the safety of children but as the COVID cases are reducing we decided to reopen schools, and the decision will remain with the local municipal bodies,” Gaikwad explained.

Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded 43,697 new COVID-19 cases, including 214 omicron infections. While case counts in Mumbai are declining, the tally indicates the gradual spread of the virus to other districts in the state. Still, the situation has improved over January, prompting the government to ease certain restrictions.