Schools may reopen in July, Bihar government consults stakeholders

PATNA: The state government may reopen its schools in July following the Centre’s announcement of Unlock 2.0.
The state education department on Thursday directed the district education officers (DEOs) to consult the schools administration, teachers, students and their parents about the reopening of schools from July.
Education minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma told this newspaper on Thursday that the schools will reopen only after the consultation with the stakeholders concerned.“We are waiting for the Centre’s guidelines regarding the resumption of normal classes in government and government-aided schools. We will formulate our own guidelines based on the Centre’s recommendations,” he said.
“Before reopening the schools, we have to take several precautionary measures to ensure social distancing, fumigation of premises and other safety measures of sanitation,” the minister said.
Secondary education director Giriwar Dayal Singh has written letters to all the DEOs about resumption of classes in schools after consultation with the stakeholders concerned. He has also enlisted 10 questions in the letter that the DEOs need to ask the stakeholders, such as date of resumption of classes, duration of school hours and classes, number of students in each class, sitting arrangements, morning assemblies to be conducted or not, criteria for sanitization and maintaining social distancing norms.
Singh has asked the DEOs to compile the consultation data of each government school in their respective districts by June 6 and submit the report to the department by June 7.
Meanwhile, the Christian Minority Education Society (CMES) is to conduct a meeting by June-end with all Christian schools regarding their reopening in the state.
Alfred George de Rozaria, president of the CMES, told this newspaper that they were looking forward to a meeting to discuss the resumption of classes in minority schools. “After consulting the society members, we will take the final decision,” he said.
Private School Children Welfare Association president Shamael Ahmed said the district president of the association has started taking feedback from all the stakeholders about resumption of classes in private schools in Patna. “We will send the draft of the feedback to the state government because it has to take the final decision on resuming classes in schools,” he said.