Schools in Maharashtra to Open in Phases
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has given the approval to start the academic year and announced guidelines for resuming physical classes in schools.
A video-conference meeting was held between Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad and other officials on Monday 15th June 2020. During the meeting, Maharashtra CM gave the approval to start the academic year online and issued a circular that approved the rules that schools must follow when they reopen physical classes.
In some areas schools could not be opened, the process of teaching cannot be stopped. The use of digital technology to reach out to students should be adopted. According to rules, online teaching will not be allowed for the pre-primary section and classes I and II. But the students can be provided with educational content on television and radio. Online classes can be conducted maximum for one hour for classes III to V, two hours for classes VI to VIII and three hours for students of class IX onwards. Schools can be reopened in a village if there has been no Covid-19 case for at least a month. Tentative reopening for class IX, X and XII is July,for class VI to VIII is August, for Class III to V is September and class I to III can reopen after approval from the school management committees. For class XI, the date will be decided after the announcement of class X results
When resuming physical classes, schools will have to run in two shifts or call students on alternate days. Each shift will be for a maximum of three hours. The schools will have to sanitize their premises. However, some teachers’ and principals’ unions have demanded that all schools in the state open from August. A petition was filed in the Bombay High Court asking authorities to cancel the ICSE examination. In reply the Council for Indian School Certificate (CISCE) said it will allow students to choose if they want to appear for the exam or not. On 17th June 2020, the Bombay High Court heard the case and asked the CISCE to explain in detail how they would give marks to students of class 10 & 12 if they decide not to give exams. About 2.8 lakh students are expected to sit for the ICSE exam in July. Regarding the CBSE examination, a plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking quashing CBSE remaining examinations of Class 12 which are scheduled to be held from 1st July to 15th July.
