The Telangana government has decided to resume physical classes for the students of grades 6, 7 and 8 from February 24.
Speaking on the matter, Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy said that the decision had been taken following the instructions of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.
The minister, along with Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, conducted a virtual conference where she briefed all the district Collectors, DEOs and district welfare officers of the BC, minority, tribal welfare and SC development departments on the reopening.
She asked the officials to ensure that the schools all follow the Covid-19 safety guidelines strictly on their premises, and that they ask for the consent of the parents of the students prior to the reopening.
The Chief Secretary urged the officials present to aid the reopening process that is to begin tomorrow. However, he clarified that if some schools were unable to resume on-site classes from tomorrow, they would have to do so by no later than March 1.
Social Welfare Secretary Rahul Bojja, BC Welfare Secretary B Venkatesham, Health and Family Welfare Secretary Syed Ali Murtaza Rizvi, Minority Welfare Secretary Nadeem Ahmed, Tribal Welfare Special Secretary Sridhar and School Education Director Devasena were among the officials who attended the meeting.
Classes for the students of grades 9 to 12, and of inter, degree and PG courses have
already been started since February 1.
Though many children are likely to be happy, many parents may not be as happy with the government's decision - while the state had seemingly been able to control the spread of the pandemic in the past few months, there has been a reported resurgence of Covid-19 cases in some places, including
in Karimnagar.