Parents of children studying in class 10 and class 12 will have to submit a consent letter to the schools stating that they have allowed their children to attend classes and that they are well aware of the precautions that students would need to take in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic while attending regular classes at schools, officials from the Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC) said on Wednesday.

“All the precautionary measures against Covid-19 virus will have to be taken by the students attending classes. Once regular classes for class 10 and class 12 resume, the parents of the students will have to submit consent letters to the respective schools stating that their children have their consent to attend regular classes,” said JEPC Director Shailesh Chaurasia.

Meanwhile, a notification from the School Education and Literacy Department on Wednesday stated that all teachers of government-run middle schools across Jharkhand will have to be physically present at schools from Thursday. So far, only two teachers were supposed to attend school every day for non-teaching work.

The Government decided to reopen schools for students of class 10 and class 12 during a review meeting of the Home, Prisons and Disaster Management Department on Tuesday night. However, while Disaster Management Minister Banna Gupta said that schools would reopen with immediate effect, JEPC officials on Wednesday said that schools were likely to reopen on coming Monday.

“If everything goes as per the plan, then regular classes for students of class 10 and class 12 may resume next week. However, students of class 11 will continue attending online classes as of now,” said Chaurasia, adding that the government’s focus was on the students who would appear for their boards exams next year while deciding on the resumption of regular classes.

Schools across Jharkhand have remained closed since the imposition of a nationwide lockdown back in March. After initial hiccups, the process of conducting online classes in government schools was also streamlined and the government launched special platforms for imparting lessons to government school students while they stayed indoors.

All the students attending classes once schools reopen will have to wear facemasks, carry hand sanitisers and maintain social distancing during classes, JEPC officials said. Special seating arrangements will also be made in classrooms to ensure that students do not come in close contact with each other, JEPC officials added. Besides, students who have fever or are unwell will not be allowed to attend regular classes once schools reopen.

Several thousand students from Jharkhand will appear for class 10 and class 12 board exams under Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC), Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and ICSE next year. Usually, the exams are conducted in the months of February and March every year.

However, there are speculations that the exams may get delayed this time due to the Covid-19 pandemic.