The government plans to reopen establishments and schools in selected zones in India.
Selected zones in India will reopen schools
March 16, a lockdown was imposed in India due to the coronavirus pandemic. With more than two months since the virus hits the country, the government plans to slowly ease in the normalcy of life in India.
The Health Ministry of India has identified the areas of concentration of the spread of the virus and classified them into zones. Red zones are the danger zones, Orange zones have mild cases, and green zones in India with minimal to zero cases.
India is now planning to reopen establishments and businesses found in safer orange and green zones in India, this includes schools as well. But, the Education ministry clarified that resumption of classes will be in a phased manner, with Grades 1 to 7 not included in the early return to classes.
Green zones in India
Younger students will not be included in the plan for an early reopening of classes, only those from Grades 8 onward will be allowed to report back. The initial ratio of students allowed to resume classes will be around 30 percent and will gradually increase as the COVID-19 situation clears out.
An official statement will be released as soon as the different ministries consoles to a unanimous decision. In the meantime, the goal, for now, is to train teachers and assistant teachers on how to handle students given the guidelines for sanitation and social distancing.
Human Resource Development Ministry is looking forward to the final guidelines to be established by the joint ministries regarding school reopening. Even at 30 percent, it will be quite difficult to manage social distancing for a class of 40, emphasizing the huge class size Indian schools have.
HRD Ministry executive Ramesh Pokhriyal hopes that all education sectors will have a consolidated plan that will benefit the safety of both students and teachers when schools start to reopen.
