Winter vacation might see offline classes taking place only in 2021
Jamshedpur, Dec 16: The state disaster management has in principle taken a decision to permit reopening of schools for class 10 to 12 students, but is yet to issue a formal notification in this regard.
According to a senior official in the school education and literacy department of Jharkhand, only after they receive a notification from the state disaster management department they will issue a formal notification for reopening of schools.
“We are yet to receive any formal notification from the state government as on Wednesday evening. Decision was taken at a review meeting on Tuesday but we will issue a circular only after receiving a proper notification from the state disaster management department. Only after we issue a notification can the high schools (class 10 to 12) can start their classes following the standard operating protocols (SOPs) laid out for Covid-19,” said director secondary education, Jatashankar Choudhary.
Meanwhile, state disaster management authorities admitted that in a review meeting chaired by chief minister Hemant Soren and attended by state disaster management minister Banna Gupta and state chief secretary Sukhdev Singh, the decision on reopening of classes between 10 and 12 has been permitted but a formal notification will be issued by the chief secretary.
“The decision on resumption of classes between 10 and 12 was taken at a meeting held on Tuesday and we have also sent a draft of the same to the chief secretary. But the chief secretary is tied up in review meeting done by the chief minister Hemant Soren. It will be issued by the chief secretary sooner or later. However, the notification will only permit the schools with laid out standard operating protocols. Ultimately it is for the schools to take a call if they want to conduct regular offline classes or continue with the online classes,” said the senior bureaucrat in the disaster management department preferring anonymity.
Significantly, the state disaster management minister, Banna Gupta who also holds the health portfolio had issued a press statement on Tuesday that classes for 10 and 12 will resume from Wednesday creating confusion amongst private schools as there has been no official communique in this connection so far.
“Decision has been taken for reopening of classes for 10 and 12 and a formal notification by the chief secretary can come anytime either on Wednesday night or Thursday,” said Sanjay Thakur, spokesperson in the office of Banna Gupta.
Meanwhile, most of the 60-odd private schools have made up their mind to resume regular offline classes after the winter vacation in the New Year.
“As on Wednesday evening we have not received any notification from the district administration nor the state government. Only after we receive the notification and read the standard operating protocols for starting of classes will we start preparing for offline classes between 10 and 12. However, most of the schools will be having winter vacations from Monday onwards and resume in the New Year. By that time we will set up all facilities laid out by the state government for resumption of offline classes,” said B. Chandrasekhar, senior executive member of the Jamshedpur Unaided Private School Association who is associated with Kadma-based D.B.M.S English School.