Teaching and non-teaching staff of schools will now have to maintain 50 per cent physical attendance at work. The school education department of the Maharashtra government has issued guidelines for the same, leading to more confusion among the teaching fraternity. The Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) released by the government on Thursday for schools detail all the points from maintaining social distancing, daily sanitisation of the premises, hand-washing and wearing masks at all times, to ensuring professional assistance for mental well-being of staff as well as students. But it skips important aspects such as when does school attendance start, how to maintain records, will there be any action, etc.

Not much clarity

"The department seems to have just copied guidelines issued by the central government regarding the reopening of the schools. But there is no thought put into the specifications at all. It begins from the first line of the circular where it mentions that until October 31 schools will remain closed for students. After that there is a huge list of SOPs but no other timeline such as when will all this be applicable. Does it mean after October 31 even students are going to come to school? In case of areas such as Mumbai and Pune where the infection rate is still high and no proper mode of traveling is available to all; should there be any exemption? When it comes to government schools, who will bear the cost of the infrastructural changes instructed in the SOP?" said Prashant Redij, spokesperson for the Mumbai School Principals' Association. The association has decided to continue as is in the current situation, and to wait for properly designed guidelines with specifications for clarity before beginning to implement any of them.