Following the
Telangana government's decision to resume physical classes for grades 6, 7 and 8, many middle-schoolers in the state today attended their first day of on-site lessons after nearly eleven months.
Since the reopening took place in the midst of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, all the students and the staff were asked to wear masks, and to adhere to strict social distancing norms. Further, only those students whose parents gave them their explicit consent to attend school were allowed to do so.
Speaking on the occasion, Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy said that the students returned to their classes joyfully as they had not been able to attend school for the past many months. She also stated that while most schools had resumed classes for grades 6, 7 and 8, those institutions which had been unable to do so, would have to reopen by no later than March 1.
(To prepare the schools for the reopening, Reddy instructed the concerned managements to first obtain written consent from the guardians of the students, as mandated by the Centre, before allowing students to attend physical classes. The school authorities were also asked to prepare customised seating systems where each classroom would seat no more than 20 pupils so that a distance of at least six feet could be maintained between the pupils.)
Though many students did attend the on-site classes that began today, reports say that some parents did not allow their wards to return to school out of concern for the latter's health. Digital classes, currently conducted on Doordarshan, T-SAT and other digital platforms, will continue for the benefit of those students who are being unable to return to school.
The parents' concerns likely stem from the worrying spurt in cases that has reportedly been observed in many places, including
in Karimnagar.