Offline classes for standards 1 to 9 begin tomorrow in Gujarat

Gujarat joined states such as Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka and Kerala in re-opening schools for in-person classes for the lower standards (classes 1 to 9) from February 7. The state government's notification, however, has asked schools to also continue with the online classes and has given an option to parents whether to send their kids to school or not.

The government had discontinued in-person (offline) education on January 7 due to the rise in Covid cases. The schools had started in November 2021. In less than two months, the offline classes were discontinued. The central government in an advisory on February 3 had recommended re-opening of schools with Covid guidelines.

State education minister Jitu Vaghani said that the decision has been taken after consulting all stakeholders.

School managements have welcomed the decision, saying that it will streamline education as students will be better placed to prepare for their final examinations. Schools say that attendance in online classes has been decreasing steadily.

Meanwhile, cases continued to slide in the state with infections getting nearly halved in three days – from 8,934 on February 2 to 4,710 on February 5.

The eight major cities accounted for 61% of cases – only Ahmedabad recording more than 1,000 cases at 1,451. Out of eight cities, six showed a downward trend. However, mortality remained high at deaths of 34 patients – ninth consecutive day of 30 or more daily deaths.

A little over a month after in-person schooling for Classes 1 to 9 was suspended, the state government announced on Saturday that classrooms will reopen for students on Monday.

Many schools are, however, adopting a wait-and-watch approach, as the number of new Covid-19 cases reported is still quite high. However, most schools plan to resume in-person schooling by calling 50% of students on one day and other 50% the next day.

School managements said that prior to suspension of in-person schooling for Classes 1 to 9 on January 3, schools saw good attendance in these classes.

On Saturday, 4,710 new cases of Covid-19 were registered in the state.