@the_news_21
Pune: Days after the Maharashtra government announced it would re-open schools for certain classes in the State, it deferred its decision following a meeting of the state Covid-19 Task Force held late on Wednesday night.
According to sources, the task force has expressed worries about a possible resurgence in cases if schools were reopened without fully vaccinating students. The Covid-19 Task Force has advocated against the resumption of offline classes from August 17 onwards.
The meeting on Wednesday was chaired by state Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte and attended by task force doctors, education and health department officials as well as district collectors of some districts.
It was decided that while some of the schools in rural areas, where there was no threat from coronavirus would continue to function, while all other schools which are shut since March 2020 will not restart from August 17 as announced earlier.
“The task force members have expressed opposition to reopening schools on grounds that students below the age of 18 have not been vaccinated. They fear that the decision to re-open is too risky at this stage,” said state Minister for Health Rajesh Tope.
Minister for School Education Varsha Gaikwad had last week announced that offline classes would commence in rural areas for students from class V to VIII, while in cities, physical classes will be held for students from class VIII to XII while strictly adhering to Covid-19 protocols.
On Tuesday, the government had even issued the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the reopening, which stated that schools should reopen only in those villages and cities where the number of Covid-19 cases has seen a substantial decline over the last month.
Meanwhile, the state government backtracking on its decision to reopen schools predictably drew a flak from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader of opposition in legislative council Pravin Darekar lambasted the government’s dithering and lack of clarity over the policy.
“Maharashtra School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad had just said a few days ago said that classes V-VII would begin in rural areas and VIII -XII in urban areas. A directive in this regard was issued on August 10. However, the decision was postponed due to objections from the State Covid-19 Task Force. Why didn’t the government consult the task force before making a decision? Parents and students are distressed by such somersaults…it is high time the MVA government stopped misleading people with its repeated U-turns over policy,” said Darekar.
