West Bengal Schools Gear Up To Reopen Higher Classes From November 16

With barely three days to go for the reopening of campuses, school authorities in West Bengal are preparing to ensure the presence of students of higher classes in a staggered way and keep a watch on the unfolding situation.

With barely three days to go for the reopening of campuses, school authorities in West Bengal are preparing to ensure the presence of students of higher classes in a staggered way and keep a watch on the unfolding situation. The school education department has asked the institutions to adopt all COVID-19 safety protocols.

Education minister Bratya Basu had said two days back that the school education department will leave it for the guardians to take a call whether they will want their wards studying in classes from nine to eleven to attend in-person classes from November 16, after a gap of 20 months. School campuses were shut for students since March-end last year following the COVID-19 pandemic and teaching was imparted on online mode.

Physical classes had started for a brief period for senior school students in mid-February this year to shut down again in April due to the second wave of COVID-19. The South Point School in south Kolkata will only ask students of classes nine and 11 to attend practicals on scheduled dates from November 16 but the tutorials will continue to be held on the online mode for the next month when the situation will be reviewed, Trustee of South Point Education Society Krishna Damani told PTI on Saturday.

"For students of classes 10 and 12, who will be appearing for board exams, the issue of attending regular classes on campus does not arise," he added. The G D Birla Centre for Education here will conduct classes on offline mode thrice a week for students of classes nine to 12 from November 16, a spokesperson said. "We have rescheduled the routine in such a way that there is no crowding in classrooms so that students can maintain a physical distance from each other and at the same time not compromise with the content of teaching,” he said.