Bihar to reopen schools, colleges, coaching institutions from January 4 next year

As the wrath of the COVID-19 seems to be subsiding with a substantial reduction in the number of new infection cases, Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar has stated that schools, colleges and coaching institutions to reopen in phases from January 4, 2021.

Kumar said schools will open for Classes 9 to 12 and Colleges will open for final year students while classes will be held in a staggered manner to ensure COVID-19 norms. The Bihar government will also distribute free masks in every school.

The State government will decide on reopening schools for junior classes after observing the proceedings of the higher-level classes for 15 days. The decision by Bihar government has been taken after consulting the other state government which have reopened the educational institutions in their respective states.

Other states reopening schools

Jharkhand government on Thursday gave its nod for reopening of schools outside containment zones for standards 10 and 12 from December 21, besides restarting classes in medical and dental colleges, and nursing institutes.

Schools in Haryana will reopen from December 14 for students of classes 10 and 12, appearing for board examinations next year, according to an order issued on December 10. The order by Haryana Government stated that the pupils will require to submit a medical certificate stating that their general health is fine and they do not have any coronavirus-like symptoms.

Schools in Puducherry would be re-opened on January 4, however, the schools would initially have half-day classes from 10 AM to 1 PM and full-day classes from January 18 onwards.

Earlier this month, the Chief Executive and Secretary Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) had written to all chief ministers to allow schools to reopen partially from January onwards, especially for students of class 10 and 12 who will be appearing for board exams. The schools and other educational institutions were shut down since March 2020 after the guidelines by the Union Home Ministry in view of the threat of COVID-19.

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The covid-19 new infections have reduced drastically with news infections being reported anywhere between 20,000 to 30,000 cases daily, from the peak of over 95,000 new cases a day. On Friday, 22,889 new COVID-19 infections were reported in the country, taking the cumulative toll of infections to 99,79,447, of which, 3,13,831 are active cases while 95,20,827 have been recovered and discharged. With 338 new deaths, the fatality toll has mounted to 1,44,789.

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