School Reopen News: No Timeline Has Been Decided To Open Schools, Says Report
No timeline has been decided to reopen schools, news agency ANI quoted government sources as saying. While reporting that only Union Territory of Chandigarh has expressed an intention to open schools so far, the news agency has also said the opening of schools will depend on the situation of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Union education ministry officials told a parliamentary panel on Monday that online classes are only meant for school children above Class 3 and only limited number of online classes are allowed for those up to 8th standard.
Earlier, the ministry had asked states and union territories for parent's feedback on a likely period when they will be comfortable with reopening of schools. A circular sent by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), had also asked for parent's expectations from schools as and when they reopen.
Schools and educational institutions have been closed across the country since mid-March after the government imposed precautionary measures to stop the spread of coronavirus outbreak.
The centre since then has announced several relaxations but has not allowed the opening of educational institutions.
On account of the “extraordinary situation” in India due to the COVID-19 crisis, the government, in the July first week, decided to slash the school syllabus up to 30 per cent for students of classes 9 to 12. The courses will be rationalized to lighten the load while retaining the core concepts, the HRD ministry said.
The HRD ministry has been promoting online education instead of classroom teaching to compensate with the learning hours lost.
Following concerns raised by parents about schools conducting online classes like regular schools, which has increased children's screen time after the COVID-19 pandemic mandated a shift from classroom teaching to online learning as schools continue to remain shut for over four months, the education ministry in July released guidelines for online classes by schools, and recommended a cap on duration and the number of sessions in a day for students.
(With Input from Agencies)