Mumbai: Schools to be shut till December 31; parents welcome move

Considering the current status of the pandemic schools in Mumbai will not open until December 31 the civic body said on Friday The decision came soon after the states school education department told local administrations to decide on the matter State officials said feedback from ground zero and other states delaying the reopening amid rising cases drove the decisionAlso read Mumbai Want academic year but we dont want to send kids to school says parentsWith the opposition to the states plan of reopening schools for Std IXXII at its peak Mumbais Mayor Kishori Pednekar announced All schools private or public will not reopen considering the safety of students The municipal commissioner has conveyed the message to the education departmentAlso read Maharashtra As DDay looms one school in each ward turns testing centreMunicipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said The number of cases is not much but there is a possibility of a second wave So it has been decided to close the schools till December 31 to reduce the risk to students and teachers After that schools may open with all the precautionsVarsha Gaikwad education minister Aaditya Thackeray environment minister and Prasad Tulaskar a parentThe state education department too issued a statement saying that even though the state has approved reopening of schools from November 23 local authorities are free to take their own callWhile declaring the SOPs Standard Operating Procedure we had said that since the situation is different everywhere it is better if local authorities take a final decision on the reopening of schools Online schooling shall continue said Varsha Gaikward states school education ministerParents were unitedParents were already questioning the reopening of schools amid the chances of a second wave and were unwilling to give written consent to send their childrenCorporator Urmila Panchal oversaw the sanitisation of a civic school in Dadar East on Friday PicSuresh KarkeraAlthough the schools had decided to continue with the status quo with there being no positive response from parents the BMCs announcement eased their burdenPrasad Tulaskar a parent from Dadar who had refused to send his son to school said Todays decision is a victory for united parents This puts the education department in an embarrassing position for making decisions without knowing the ground reality The department should have consulted parents before declaring a reopening date for schools especially when there is the fear of a second waveParents have maintained the stand to not reopen schools until a vaccine is available Parents also pointed to other states where cases increased after schools reopenedIt would not have been possible to finish all tasks including sanitisation of schools RTPCR tests of all staffers etc It clearly looked like the reopening plan was continued due to the governments stubbornness said Shivnath Darade from Maharashtra Rajya Shikshak Parishad which had written to the BMC regarding the situation on the groundExclusive test centres for school staff were established on November 19 and 10000 samples were collected amid which the decision to halt the reopening cameFeedback discouraged govtMinister Aaditya Thackeray had reviewed the situation a couple of days ago and asked the BMC to ramp up the COVID19 infrastructure to deal with a possible second COVID wave The rising cases in DelhiNCR and the Gujarat governments decision to delay reopening of schools reaffirmed the States assumption that infections will increase after Diwali Schools if reopened in such a situation would have meant more trouble and more positive cases said a government officialFeedback received from ground zero indicated parents unwillingness and concerns of teachers associations and school managements amid a lack of resources and manpower to follow SOPsIn many districts school managements had to ask teachers and nonteaching staff to cancel Diwali vacations which ended during FridaySaturday to prepare schools and get tested for COVID1910kNo of samples of school staff that were collected until Friday for RTPCR testsKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news