BMC puts off reopening of schools for Std I-VII

In a major setback for parents waiting to send their children in Stds IVII back to school the BMC on Tuesday postponed the reopening until December 15 Civic officials said the decision was taken to ensure appropriate measures are taken for the safe return of students on the campus amid the fear of a new Coronavirus variant Many schools were to welcome back primary kids todayThe Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporationrsquos BMC decision comes a day after the state government issued a GR Government Resolution clarifying the standard operating procedures SOPs for the reopening from WednesdaySchoolkids wearing masks on a bus in Bandra in March 2020 PicPradeep DhivarldquoTo ensure the safe return of students to school the BMC has decided to defer the decision of opening of schools for Stds IVII by 14 days Schools for these classes will now open from December 15 In view of the emergence of a new Coronavirus variant mdash Omicron many countries have enforced stringent measures Considering the international connectivity and population of Mumbai the health departments of the state government and the BMC are taking appropriate measures and precautions Experts across the globe are cautious about the new variant and its exact nature will be known in the next few daysrdquo its press note statedThe inperson classes for Stds VIIIXII students will continue the BMC saidThe decision has received mixed reactions with many welcoming the decision saying that it is important to be cautiousA state board schoolrsquos principal said ldquoAnyway most schools in the city were not ready to reopen on Wednesday After the SOPs are declared schools require time to prepare accordingly in order to ensure complete safety on the school premises This takes time Even at the time of reopening of Std VIII and above many schools took an additional week to preparerdquoSchools affiliated to CBSE and ICSE boards will be holding their board exams with a strict protocol ldquoWe were anyway going to wait for this term of board exam to get over before reopening for younger classes because planning for the exams was already done and classrooms were marked accordingly to ensure physical distancingrdquo said a teacher from a CBSE schoolICSE schools to wait furtherMeanwhile the association of ICSE schools in the state has issued a letter to the BMC education officer stating that their schools will reopen either on December 21 or in January 2022 because of the board exams and the Christmas vacationThe letter by Perin Bagli secretary of the association states ldquoPresently all the ICSE schools in Mumbai are having the semester I board exam for the academic year 202122 The same will get over on December 16 As per the government guidelines we have to maintain 6ft distance between students in the classrooms Even our teachers are deputed as invigilators for the same exam and there is a shortfall of teaching staff in schools Under these circumstances we are requesting you to let all the ICSE schools take a call and open from December 21 2021 or January 2022 as most of the schools are closing for Christmas vacation from December 23rdquoMixed reactions from parentsParents who were sceptical of having their wards on campus took a sigh of relief while some are not sure of their decision to send their children back to school owing to the new variant However there are still those who have opposed the BMCrsquos moveldquoWhen there are no cases of the new variant in India why should the BMC postpone reopening of schools for junior classesrdquo asked Gayatri Sabharwal who is part of a parentsrsquo group whose openmumbaischoolsnow movement gained great momentum in the past few daysHowever Kamini Raman another parent said ldquoAfter waiting for so long there is no harm to wait and watch for another 14 daysrdquoMeanwhile data collected by the BMCrsquos education department showed that there are 2642 schools with students of Std VIII and above and a total strength of 8 lakh kids There are 3420 schools with Stds IVII with a strength of about 105 lakh students The total number of employees at all these schools is 60000 and 82 per cent of them are fully vaccinatedDec 21Day ICSE schools could reopen for Stds IVII students