On 15th June 2020, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray,
School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad and other officials
had a meeting via video-conferencing to discuss the reopening of schools.
Thackeray has given the approval to start the academic year online
and has issued guidelines for the physical reopening of schools. Let me tell you about it.
In some areas schools could not be opened, the process of teaching cannot be stopped.
An alternate must be adopted. Digital technology should be used to teach students.
Pre-primary section and classes I and II,
will not be taught online.
Students can be provided with educational content on television and radio.
Online classes can be conducted maximum for one hour for classes III to V.
two hours for classes VI to VIII
and three hours for students of class IX onwards.
Schools can be reopened in a village if there has been no Covid-19 case for at least a month.
Tentative reopening for class IX, X and XII is July,
for class VI to VIII is August,
for Class III to V is September
and class I to III can reopen after approval from the school management committees.
For class XI, the date will be decided after the announcement of class X results.
When resuming physical classes, schools can call students on alternate days for 3 hours.
Or they can be called in shifts during the day.
The schools will have to sanitize their premises.
However, some teachers’ and principals’ unions have demanded
that all schools in the state open from August.
A petition was filed in the Bombay High Court asking authorities
to cancel the ICSE examination for class 10 & 12.
CISCE which is the authority that conducts ICSE exams said
it will allow students to choose if they want to appear for the exam or not.
On 17th June 2020, at the hearing, the Bombay High Court asked the CISCE
to explain in detail how they would grade students of class 10 & 12 if they decide not to give exams.
About 2.8 lakh students are expected to sit for the ICSE exam in July.
CBSE examinations of Class 12 are scheduled to be held from 1st July to 15th July.
A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court to cancel these exams.