Minister of School Education Inder Singh Parmar here on Wednesday said that classes from I to VIII will restart from April 1 onwards.
Notably, post lockdown last year in March, MP government had closed down schools and later only allowed schools to run classes from IX to XII.
Recently the minister had claimed that a call on fresh academic session will be taken after the board and other exams were over.
However, on Wednesday, the Minister backtracked and told media persons that fresh academic session will start from April 1.
For pre-primary students, the minister said they have to wait for the time being. Parmar specified that schools will have to adhere to Covid19 guidelines and smaller schools will have to run classes in two shifts.
Additionally, the timings of classes IX to XII has been extended by two hours and from now on, these classes will run between 9am to 5pm, in the wake of approaching board and other exams and incomplete syllabus, an order from Commissioner Directorate of Public Instructions Jayshree Kiaywat said.
Till now schools were running from 10.30am to 4.30pm. School restarting classes from I to VIII will have to procure permissions from the parents.
The schools will also restart for classes till I to VIII in Indore and Bhopal, which have reported surge in corona cases, except for areas identified for Covid19 spread, said the minister. Schools have been asked to summon students in lesser numbers than the full capacity of classes.
Both parents and school owners were demanding a decision from the state government over fresh academic session for long. It is also a matter of satisfaction for the state government that no case of Covid19 infection has been reported from any of the schools which are running classes from IX to XII.