Amid coronavirus outbreak, schools to reopen from July for older students

Two months ago, on March 25, normal life was brought to a standstill as India went under a state of lockdown in a bid to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Since then, the lockdown has been extended thrice. Lockdown 4.0 extends till the end of May, and it would appear that things are returning to normal. On Monday, most states resumed flight services, and prior to that, many businesses had been permitted to restart.

Schools and other educational institutions however, it would seem, are not opening immediately. As per a report by The Print, the Centre is likely to undertake a zone-wise reopening of schools, beginning with those in green and orange zones.

The publication quoted a senior official from the Human Resource Development Ministry to add that initially only older students -- from Class 8 to Class 12 -- would be attending classes. Younger children would not be called in until the schools all fully reopened. Even this phased opening will take some time.

Reportedly, the government is considering allowing only 30% of the students to attend school at a time. Additionally, there would be precautionary measures such as usage of masks and social distancing norms once school restarts.

In other related news, pending board exams too may be happening soon. On Monday, Minister of Human Resource Development, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said that the pending class 10, 12 board exams will be conducted at over 15,000 examination centres across India.

Cases in India however continue to rise. As of Monday evening, data given by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that more than 138,800 positive cases had been recorded till date. Of these, 77103 cases remain active. 57,720 people have been 'cured' and discharged, while 4,021 have unfortunately passed away.