Schools To Reopen In Maharashtra

Education Minister greeted Parents on the reopening of physical classes.

On Monday, Schools resumed physical sessions for classes 1 to 12 in Maharashtra and the state government hopes that students would enjoy being back to their classrooms in a safe atmosphere.

Last week, the Maharashtra government allowed the offline classes to resume from January 24 after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray approved a proposal to this effect that was sent to him by the school education department.

Schools were closed in the first week of January due to a spike in the coronavirus cases and in the wake of the emergence of the highly infectious Omicron variant.

However, a number of parents, activists in the field as well as teachers had strongly opposed the move to shut the schools, saying it would adversely affect the students.

In Mumbai, the local civic body had earlier announced the closure of schools for Classes 1 to 9 till January 31.

But, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) assessment later indicated that the cases of Omicron infection were not on the rise, and it had said the curve was flattening. It had prompted officials to propose the reopening of schools for physical attendance.

On Monday, Maharashtra School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad greeted students and parents on the reopening of physical classes.

Gaikwad tweeted, "Wishing all parents and students the very best as physical classes reopen today onwards. We hope you enjoy your day back in a safe atmosphere. #BackToSchool. @scertmaha @CMOMaharashtra @msbshse."

In Mumbai also, various schools resumed offline classes in the morning. Last week, BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal had said that in-person or offline classes will resume in pre-primary schools too.

While allowing the schools to resume physical classes, the state government has asked them to strictly follow the COVID-19 protocols and guidelines.

Maharashtra reported 40,805 COVID-19 cases, taking its tally to 75, 07,225, while 44 fatalities pushed the toll to 1, 42,115, a health department official earlier said.

On Sunday, No Omicron case was detected in the state, keeping the cases of those affected by the new variant to 2,759, of whom 1,437 have been discharged so far, the official said.