Mita Mukherjee

The West Bengal government is willing to reopen schools in phases and is awaiting the final nod from the state health department which is reviewing the Covid-19 situation in the state, Bengal education minister Bratya Basu said on Monday.

Launching a new project – open-air “Paray Sikhshalaya” or neighborhood schools for pre-primary and primary students of state-aided schools, Basu said that chief minister, Mamata Banerjee is aware about the need to reopen schools and she is constantly in touch with the health department.

“We are keen to reopen schools. But the final decision in this regard cannot be taken by the school education department alone. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is looking into the matter and she will take a decision once the situation is conducive.  We understand the problem. I would request parents and guardians not to worry as the chief minister is seriously looking into this,” said Basu.

The government has a plan to reopen the schools step by step and all arrangements are being made to ensure smooth running of the institutions. It wants to ensure there is no rise in Covid-19 cases after the schools start operating the in-person classes.

The government wants to reopen the schools in “appropriate time” also to ensure that the schools do not have to shut down again after starting the offline classes, the education minister said.

Schools in Bengal had shut down for the first time due to the pandemic in March 2020. Schools had reopened for Classes IX to XII students from November 16 but they were shut again on January 3 due to the recent surge in Covid-19 and Omicron cases.

Public interest litigation was filed in the Calcutta High Court last week seeking reopening of schools.

Under the “ Paray Sikhshalaya” scheme, the school education department will organize open-air classes in every neighborhood where students of pre-primary and primary classes studying in the state-run schools will be given lessons, Basu said. The neighborhood schools will start running from February 7.

After the closure of schools due to the pandemic in March 2020,  the state-aided schools had arranged online classes for the students. But many children have long been deprived of the lessons owing to lack of facilities. Most children coming from economically backward families had been cut off from education since the schools had closed down two years ago.

The government hopes that the neighborhood schools will address the problem to a considerable extent, Basu said.

The proposed schools will be set up in open space in every locality maintaining all Covid-19 protocols.

As many as 60,682 students studying in the 50,159 primary schools and nearly 15,599 Shishu Shiksha Kendras will attend the neighborhood schools.

Nearly two lakh teachers working in these institutions will teach the lessons, the minister said.

Besides elementary education, students would be encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities.

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