Gujarat schools to reopen from Jan 11: State Education Minister

The Gujarat government on Wednesday announced reopening of class 10, 12 and colleges from January 11. The decision comes in view of steady decline, as claimed in the daily news bulletin of the health department, in the number of coronavirus cases in the state. The campuses will be reopened after nearly ten months since the pandemic broke out, resulting in shutting down of all educational institutes.

Announcing the decision in Gandhinagar, state education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama told reporters that higher secondary schools (Class-10 and 12) and colleges will be permitted to reopen from January 11. He said that such educational institutes will be instructed to follow Covid-19 SOPs, social distancing norms, among other mandatory measures to check the virus from spreading.

Chudasama said that schools and colleges will have to provide hand sanitizers, thermal guns for checking temperatures, hand wash facilities, among others. Besides, the students will have to bring written permission from their parents to attend classes. All institutes will be advised to avoid pressuring students for their presence as well as assembly, prayers or any mass gathering in the campuses. The decision is applicable to all education boards.

The minister clarified that the government is not considering mass promotion since the schools have remained shut due to pandemic. He said that students will be evaluated on the basis of the limited syllabus they have been taught online during the period. He also said that decision with regards to reopening of other classes is also being considered which will be announced at an appropriate time.

Earlier in November, the state government had announced reopening of schools from November 23 but the decision was withdrawn after a spike in the daily infection post Diwali vacation. Following measures that included night curfew in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot, and complete weekend curfew in Ahmedabad, the situation in the state has improved.

On Tuesday evening, the state reported 655 new positive cases, the lowest in six months. The total caseload in the state stood at 2.48 lakh out of which 4,325 have died.