School Reopening News: Looking at the rising cases of coronavirus, the Maharashtra government on Friday decided to restart classes in schools for 9th, 10th, 11th & 12th standards from November 23.
Issuing a statement, the state government, however, said that the examinations of Class X and XII conducted by the state board will not be held before May 2021 due to the prevailing situation.
“We have proposed before state government to restart classes in schools for 9th, 10th, 11th & 12th standards from November 23. Also, we have proposed that the exams of 10th & 12th class should be conducted in May, instead of February or March,” Maharashtra School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad said.
She also added that the current situation of coronavirus is likely to last for a longer period and the state government has discussed the issue of completion of syllabus and holding of exams.
“I have also discussed the issue of how much curriculum can be omitted so that teachers can complete the remaining part. We will have to cut at least 25 per cent of the curriculum,” she added.
The move from the state government comes at a time when Maharashtra’s Covid-19 cases crossed the 17 lakh-mark even as deaths remained high for the second day despite a fall in new infections and an improved recovery rate.
The state witnessed 256 deaths (including 139 reconciled old fatalities), almost half the peak tally of 515 recorded on September 15, taking Maharashtra’s Covid death toll to 44,804.
The state recorded 5,246 fresh cases – much lower than the peak single-day tally of 24,886 recorded on September 11 – as the state’s tally jumped past the 17 lakh-mark to 17,03,444 cases till date.
On a positive side, the state’s recovery rate increased from 90.68 per cent to 91.07 per cent, while the current mortality rate stood at 2.63 per cent.
Of the 256 deaths declared on Thursday (including the 139 old fatalities), Sangli led the count with 51 deaths, followed by 43 in Solapur, 41 in Kolhapur, 26 in Nanded, 25 in Mumbai, 18 in Thane, 12 in Pune, 9 in Beed, 5 in Nashik, 4 each in Ahmednagar and Satara, 3 each in Palghar and Aurangabad, 2 each in Buldhana, Nagpur and Chandrapur, and 1 each in Dhule, Jalgaon, Jalna, Parbhani, Latur and Osmanabad.