Schools, colleges open sans students in Himachal Pradesh

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 21

Schools and colleges in the stateopened today after more than six months with 50 per cent teachers and non-teaching staff.

As per the new guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), education institutions were directed to call only 50 per cent staff and the state government had decided to keep schools closed for students.

Teachers from Class I to Class XII were called selectively by principals. The schools were sanitised and the staff were wearing masks and abiding by social-distancing norms.

The department has already allowed the students to visit schools with the consent of their parents for seeking guidance from teachers but there will be no classes as such.

The teachers will prepare lessons and modules for online teaching and also work in information and communication technology labs for attaining expertise in IT, said Director, Higher Education, Amarjeet Sharma.

However, the Himachal Government Teachers Union (HGTU) Virender Chauhan faction said the students should also be allowed to attend schools and a plan should be in place to call students on a rotation basis so that attending schools could be fruitful for teachers.

A major handicap in opening the schools is that 68 per cent parents are against exposing children to the pandemic as there has been a spurt in the number of cases from August. Online classes are being conducted to avoid the loss of studies.