New Delhi: As a part of its plan for reopening schools, the central government intends to do so zone-wise after the lockdown is lifted, ThePrint has learnt. During this time, only students from classes 8 to 12 will be called in while students in primary and pre-primary classes will return after all schools fully reopen.
Media had earlier reported that the government was considering allowing only 30 per cent students at a time in school as it explored options to reopen the educational institutions. It has now further been decided that in order to make sure that the younger children are not at a risk of infection, only older children will be called in.
Confirming the development a senior official in the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) said, “We are working on guidelines for reopening of schools after the lockdown and we plan to call only older students because there is a lot of safety risk with younger students. One cannot expect the younger children to maintain physical distance, wear masks and follow the hygiene rules at all times and we do not want to put them to risk.”
The official added that the guidelines on this will be released this week after consultation with other ministries such as health and home affairs.
