Schoolkids, wearing masks, on a bus in Bandra, in March 2020. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

“To ensure the safe return of students to school, the BMC has decided to defer the decision of opening of schools for Stds I-VII by 14 days. Schools for these classes will now open from December 15. In view of the emergence of a new Coronavirus variant — Omicron, many countries have enforced stringent measures. Considering the international connectivity and population of Mumbai, the health departments of the state government and the BMC are taking appropriate measures and precautions. Experts across the globe are cautious about the new variant and its exact nature will be known in the next few days,” its press note stated.

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The in-person classes for Stds VIII-XII students will continue, the BMC said.

The decision has received mixed reactions, with many welcoming the decision, saying that it is important to be cautious.

A state board school’s principal said, “Anyway, most schools in the city were not ready to reopen on Wednesday. After the SOPs are declared, schools require time to prepare accordingly in order to ensure complete safety on the school premises. This takes time. Even at the time of reopening of Std VIII and above, many schools took an additional week to prepare.”

Schools affiliated to CBSE and ICSE boards will be holding their board exams with a strict protocol. “We were anyway going to wait for this term of board exam to get over before reopening for younger classes, because planning for the exams was already done and classrooms were marked accordingly to ensure physical distancing,” said a teacher from a CBSE school.

ICSE schools to wait further

Meanwhile, the association of ICSE schools in the state has issued a letter to the BMC education officer, stating that their schools will reopen either on December 21 or in January 2022, because of the board exams and the Christmas vacation.

The letter by Perin Bagli, secretary of the association, states, “Presently all the ICSE schools in Mumbai are having the semester I board exam for the academic year 2021-22. The same will get over on December 16. As per the government guidelines, we have to maintain 6-ft distance between students in the classrooms. Even our teachers are deputed as invigilators for the same exam and there is a shortfall of teaching staff in schools. Under these circumstances, we are requesting you to let all the ICSE schools take a call and open from December 21, 2021 or January 2022 as most of the schools are closing for Christmas vacation from December 23.”

Mixed reactions from parents 

Parents who were sceptical of having their wards on campus took a sigh of relief, while some are not sure of their decision to send their children back to school, owing to the new variant. However, there are still those who have opposed the BMC’s move.

“When there are no cases of the new variant in India, why should the BMC postpone reopening of schools for junior classes?” asked Gayatri Sabharwal, who is part of a parents’ group whose #openmumbaischoolsnow movement gained great momentum in the past few days.

However, Kamini Raman, another parent, said, “After waiting for so long, there is no harm to wait and watch for another 14 days.”

Meanwhile, data collected by the BMC’s education department showed that there are 2,642 schools with students of Std VIII and above, and a total strength of 8 lakh kids. There are 3,420 schools with Stds I-VII, with a strength of about 10.5 lakh students. The total number of employees at all these schools is 60,000, and 82 per cent of them are fully vaccinated.

Dec 21
Day ICSE schools could reopen for Stds I-VII students