Having recently decided to open on-campus classes in schools, the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday clarified that the classes could be suspended again if the state witnessed a rise in coronavirus positive cases.
The government has opened schools from August 16 for classes 9 to 12, from August 23 for classes 6 to 8 and for students of classes 1 to 5 on-campus classes will resume from September 1.
Replying to a question by teacher constituency member Dhruv Kumar Tripathi in UP Legislative Council on Thursday, Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma said that attendance of students would not be compulsory and schools may be closed again if the COVID-19 situation worsened.
"In schools run by the Basic Education department, attendance is not compulsory. We have also not made attendance mandatory for classes 9 to 12. Guardians, teachers and political organisations have also said that on-campus education should be started even if it is for a shorter period," Sharma said.
The present atmosphere is sufficiently secure across the state but if there is any indication of any concern over COVID-19 spread, we can also close schools," Sharma said.
Member of Legislative Council, Dhruv Kumar Tripathi also asked Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh if there was any arrangement for vaccination of teachers and students below 18 years of age.
In a supplementary question, SP member Shatrudra Prakash asked the health minister if it was safe for little children to go to school without being vaccinated to which Jai Pratap Singh replied that vaccine for children below 18 was not yet available but was expected to be available by September. The health minister further said that after the vaccine became available, a campaign would be launched to inoculate children.
Meanwhile, after clearing the supplementary budget and other bills, the Legislative Council Chairman announced the closure of the House sine-die.
Earlier on Tuesday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said that the state government was considering reopening schools for classes 1 to 8 in a week or two. This was announced a day after schools reopened for students of classes 9 to 12 with 50 per cent attendance with strict Covid protocol in place on August 16. Schools in UP have remained closed for the last 17 months due to the pandemic and students are forced to learn their lessons through online classes.