(Image source from: Deccanherald.com)

Students go back to Schools in 8 States after 6 Months:- Only 7 states and one Union Territory have reopened the schools from September 21 for the students of Classes 9 and above.

For the first time since the pandemic and the lockdown, schools have been reopened in some parts of the country on Monday, September 21.

However, only seven states and one Union Territory chose to utilize the Unlock 4 relaxations which were issued last month which allowed the schools to function from Monday for classes 9 and above.

Driven by fears over the coronavirus spread, the attendance of the students in these 7 states has been very less on the first day. The other states including Delhi are yet to decide the date of resuming the institutes.

In Assam, the teachers of various schools felt that the situation was not very convincing. Only 10 percent of students attended the schools in Assam of classes 9 to 12.

As the online classes are always there, many parents did not want to take a chance and send their children.

Schools have reopened partially in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim.

However, the states like Maharashtra, Punjab, Tripura, Karnataka, Telangana, Goa, Rajasthan, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and other states are still in talks about the reopening of schools.

Meanwhile, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Chattisgarh are against the reopening of schools anytime in the near future.

An English Teacher in ZP High school at Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh said that they have discusses various precautionary measures of COVID-19 in a meeting with the parents but the attendance remained low in both government and the private schools.

The Gujarat government however was always against the reopening of the schools in the interest of the students.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government will take a decision after a meeting by September 30 about the date of reopening of the government and private schools.

Many governments across India feel that the safety of the students cannot be compromised as the COVID-19 cases are seeing a spike in the country in the recent times.

Even after the schools reopen, the governments would give the option of both online and offline classes to the students at least till the vaccine reaches everyone.

All the governments are conducting separate meetings with the educational institutions to decide on the matter of school reopening and also about the safety precautions to be taken once the schools reopen.

- By Gayatri Yellayi