Covid-19: State govt thinks over reopening of schools

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government is considering reopening schools amid a worrying increase in Covid-19 cases.

According to PTI, the state has constituted a panel of experts to prepare a report. Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty said the decision to reopen the school would be made by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and a high-level committee monitoring the Covid situation. ‘The Education Department is contemplating to set up a suitable expert panel to submit a report to know whether the circumstances in the state are all right to reopen the schools,’ Sivankutty said.

Additionally, the Department would prepare a project report recommending which classes can be reopened initially, what facilities can be ensured for the safety of children during the Covid-19 pandemic, and so on. ‘The report of the expert committee and the project report of the education department will be submitted to the Chief Minister. An appropriate decision will be taken only after it,’ the minister added.

Since last year’s Coronavirus pandemic, Kerala has been conducting online classes for all students. Earlier, the government decided to reopen schools only after children were vaccinated, according to ANI.

On September 1, several states including Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan reopened schools with strict COVID-19 restrictions.

Kerala reported 32,097 new COVID-19 infections and 188 fatalities on Thursday, pushing the caseload to over 41 lakh cases (41,22,133) and the death toll to 21,149. The test positivity rate (TPR) was 18.41 percent after 1,74,307 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, according to a state government release.