Maharashtra state government is all set to commence the offline classes in the state from January 24, 2022, for classes 1 to 12. This news was shared by Maharashtra School Education Minister, Varsha Gaikwad yesterday while addressing the press. However, 24 hours since the release of this statement students are taking to Twitter opposing this move and demanding cancellation of the board exams.
As per the School Education Minister, the following reasons have been the basis of this untimely opening of the schools in the state amid the splurge in the covid-19 cases:
- A cabinet meeting has been set up with pediatric force and education experts to asess the current situation in the state from the point of view of children’s health and then this decision has been taken up
- The ministry also had a collective dialogue with parents and DMs of different districts and all of them expressed their opinion of re-opening the schools in the state
- With this decision, an order follows as per which the schools will make sure that all SOPs and pandemic directives such as wearing mask every time has to be followed in the school premises. Other than this, the rule to allow only one student per bench shall be followed during the physical classes
- The parents have to make sure that if the students are showing any symptoms then they are kept at home. While schools have been asked to make isolation rooms for the unwell students
- The minister had appealed to the state government to ramp up the vaccination for students aged between 15 to 18 years at the school level
The students are using hashtags like #cancelboardexam2022, #justicefor10to12students, and #cancelboardpariksha to vent out their disapproval. In their tweets, the students are tagging the school minister Varsha Gaikwad and CM of the state too for timely intervention in this matter.
The students are tweeting this on the tweet made by the minister in which she has put forth the basic reasons behind this sudden reopening of the schools. While some of them also questioned if the vaccine administered to students are safe enough for them. Some students were seen asking for a 50% reduction in the overall syllabus for the board exam too.
The Maharashtra state government has earlier closed the schools amid a rapid increase in the covid-19 cases in the state. Although the offline classes abstained till February 15, 2022, now the cases are decreasing, the state is returning to normalcy the state government took this decision.
