Given a go-ahead to open their gates to students tomorrow—eight months after the lockdown was announced to arrest the COVID-19 pandemic—Mumbai's schools will remain shut, at least until December 31, after a directive from the local civic body following a spike in daily cases.

Across the world, more than one billion students have been forced to stay outside the classroom since the pandemic started. However, of the 134 countries that shut schools, 105 had decided to open, as per a recent UNICEF report. As of August, 59 of these had already reopened their schools, including the two countries hardest hit by the pandemic—US and India. On November 2, Andhra Pradesh set in motion a phased reopening of schools to cover all the classes. But, in the week since, 829 teachers and at least 575 students tested positive, all from government high schools.