Schools, colleges ready to open from Monday

Schools, colleges ready to open from Monday

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:  11.01.2021

Schools and colleges all across the state have begun preparations in full swing ahead of the reopening of classroom studies from Monday, after being shut down for more than nine months due to Covid-19 pandemic.

The government has decided to reopen educational institutions in the state in a staggered manner. In the case of schools, only Class X and Class XII students will resume in the initial phase, for colleges only final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students will be allowed on the campus.

Colleges are likely to see greater participation of students in comparison to schools.

All necessary precautions including social distancing norms, thermal screening and other safety measures are being put in place by colleges and schools since the announcement of their re-opening earlier this month.

The state government has decided to welcome students when schools reopen from January 11 across the state. The government has assigned the responsibility of organizing the programmes in as many as 21 districts to various ministers.

The government could not hold Praveshotsav due to the Covid crisis in 2020-21 academic year, and thus decided to do so on Monday. Students are welcomed under the programme to encourage them to study.

Education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and energy minister Saurabh Patel will welcome students in Gandhinagar district. State home minister Pradipsinh Jadeja and revenue minister Kaushik Patel will participate in a welcome programme in Ahmedabad.

More than 17 lakh students are enrolled in Class X and Class XII courses and a large number of them will be going back to schools from Monday. While attendance is not compulsory, the state government said recently that online studies will continue according to Centre’s guidelines.

The state government had earlier announced resuming classroom studies from November 23, but later rolled back its decision following a spike in Covid-19 cases. As a result, many schools and colleges had already begun the work of reopening including sanitization of premises and social distancing measures in classrooms.

In all, there are about 20,000 schools in the state that are expected to reopen from Monday.

Parents who agreed to send their wards for physical classes need to send the signed consent form along with their ward. These are to be shown at school gate and subsequently to be submitted to class teacher on the first day of the school.