Primary section of MP schools reopened after break due to COVID-19 pandemic

Bhopal, September 20

Classroom teaching in the primary section of Madhya Pradesh schools resumed on Monday after remaining closed since March 24 last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.

However, they added that attendance. despite a cap of 50 per cent of class strength, was low.

"Schools were shut since March 24, 2020. Students seemed enthusiastic to be back in class after such a long gap. Those who did not have mobile phones to attend online classes seemed to be more excited," Bhopal District Education Officer (DEO) Nitin Saxena said.

Queried on the attendance, he said no figure of students who were present in school on day one post resumption was available, though he added that it was "sizable".

Online classes will continue as earlier, he added.

Viny Raj Modi, vice-president of the Association of Unaided Private Schools, said most schools were holding the three-monthly examinations through online mode at present.

"So, such schools were not open from Monday. However, some schools resumed classes. In private schools, only 25 per cent parents have given consent for the physical presence of their children. They will start coming to schools after completion of the three-monthly examination," Modi said.

Rekha Negi, the mother of a Class I student in Jawaharlal Nehru School, said she would not send her child to school as the pandemic continued, and there were chances of the infection spreading due to travel in school buses and vans.

School for classes VI to XII, with 50 per cent attendance cap per day, had started earlier.

MP, on Sunday, recorded eight COVID-19 cases, taking its tally to 7,92,394, while the active tally stands at 96. PTI