Parents of about 60% of more than 67,000 children studying in grades 8-10 at 781 civic schools in the city have given consent to send their child to school from Monday for offline lessons. As of today, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has authorized the reopening of private and public schools for grades 8 to 12.
According to BMC officials, 781 municipal high schools in Mumbai have 67,361 students in grades 8-10 who are eligible to attend school from Monday. A BMC official from the education department said, “The big picture is that around 60% of parents are willing to give their consent in writing to the school that will make their children eligible for offline lessons. Written consent is at a different stage and the system is expected to be streamlined within the next 15 days given that it is a soft start from Monday.
The BMC official added: “Many parents are not ready to send their children because the festivals are approaching and maybe they have gone to their home country because of the online classes. However, we will continue to ensure that as many students as possible take advantage of offline courses. ”
The BMC had in its SOP on Thursday told all schools that 100% attendance is not mandatory and that parental consent is required for students to attend school. The SOP details guidelines on nine parameters, including attendance, Covid-19 safety and hygiene, teaching, seating arrangements in classrooms, for school principals, teachers, students and parents.
The BMC asked school principals to link their schools to the nearest primary health centers before resuming classes, in order to better cope with health emergencies among students and staff.
According to BMC officials, out of a total of 781 high schools, 21 schools will not be able to operate from Monday. BMC Education Officer Raju Tadvi said, “Some of our schools have quarantine facilities and vaccination centers on their premises. Therefore, they will take a long time to start. These centers will first be moved out of schools and later there will be disinfection stations where we will resume classes in these schools. ”
Tadvi added: “The estimated number of schools as of Monday is 760 and the estimated number of teachers and non-teaching staff is 3,600, followed by an estimated number of students to attend is 38,000. . ”
BMC officials will also ask rail authorities to issue passes to students traveling by local train and have also asked BEST to allow students to travel for free in accordance with the previous arrangement.
Additionally, as schools restart, a maximum of 15-20 students will be allowed per class at a time. If there are more students, the school can organize lessons in two groups, dividing the students into two groups and calling them alternate days. Actual classrooms will not operate for more than three to four hours and there will be no lunch break. Air conditioning will not work in the classrooms.
Meanwhile, schools have also been instructed not to issue certificates or rewards for 100% attendance due to the Covid-19 situation. On campus, masks are mandatory. All teachers who attend the school to teach grades 8 to 12 must be vaccinated with both doses or must pass an RT-PCR test 48 hours before, and the school administration is required to verify these reports with the laboratory. .
