Schools to reopen for Class VI-VIII from today

Hyderabad: At a time when Covid-19 cases have been increasing in the State and reports of a new variant has been reported, the Telangana government has decided to reopen schools for students from Class VI to VIII from Wednesday.

State Education Minister Sabita Indra Reddy announced this on Tuesday after a high-level review meeting attended by State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Special Chief Secretary (Education) Chitra Ramachandran, State Director of School Education A Sridevasena and other senior officials of the education department.

The minister said the decision has been taken following the directions from Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to reopen schools from Class VI to VIII between February 24 and March 1.

However, she made it clear that students should be allowed to attend the classes only if they have prior permission from the parents. She made it further clear to the school managements that they should not mount pressure on the students to attend the classes.

That apart, it is mandatory for the students to follow Covid precautions while attending the classes, she added.

Following the decision, the minister said that 17.10 lakh students of Classes VI to VIII are expected to attend the classes. There are about 8,88,742 students studying in 8,891 government schools, 8,28,516 students studying in 10,275 private schools and nearly 1,98,853 students from 1,157 welfare departments' run Gurukul Schools are expected to attend the classes, she said.

However, this sudden decision to reopen the schools had raised many eyebrows. Opposition parties feel that this decision has direct link to the MLC graduate elections. What is causing worry is that the schools will reopen on Wednesday without any sanitisation being done.

It is not practically possible to sanitise the schools and provide hand sanitisers and masks in less than one day, the Opposition leaders feel. This could have adverse effect on the health of the staff and the students, they add.

Immediately after the meeting, Somesh Kumar held a teleconference with the District Collectors, DEOs and District Welfare Officers of BC, Minority, Tribal Welfare and SC development departments.

He directed them to start classes from Wednesday as far as possible and not later than March 1.