The education department released the set of guidelines for opening of the primary schools on Saturday. The guidelines were issued by education secretary Radhika Jha a day after the education minister Arvind Pandey said that the primary schools in the state would be opened from September 21. In the order Jha said that the primary schools would remain open for three hours in a day.
Discussing the impact of the long closure on the learning of the students, the secretary said that the decision to open the schools has been taken in view of the reduction in severity of the pandemic of Covid-19. Jha said that the school premises should be sanitised prior to opening of the schools and arrangements for sanitisation, thermal scans and first aid should be made in the schools. The schools should appoint a nodal officer for the Covid-19 and the chief education officers (CEO) have been asked to set up a mechanism for prompt transfer of information in case any case of the disease is detected in the schools.
Jha in her order made it clear that the schools would operate both in online and offline mode and the parents would not be forced by the schools to send their wards to the schools.