Over 4 lakh Maha students back in classrooms

Nagpur: As Maharashtra allowed schools in rural area to reopen from July 15 onwards, subject to various conditions, over four lakh students were back in classrooms on day one. As per data shared by the state education department, these student numbers accounted for around 9% of those eligible.
Reopening permission has been granted only to schools in rural areas and that too for students in Std VIII-XII. Last year when schools reopened, the broader permission was for every geographical area, which meant the high population density areas like Pune, Nagpur saw their students streaming back to school.
Sharad Bhandarkar, extension officer with the local education department, said this time the reopening procedure is a bit more complicated. “Now, the final decision rests with a special committee headed by the village sarpanch. Then other members like gram sewaks and education officials join in. So this is an extra layer of bureaucracy which prolongs the process of reopening,” said Bhandarkar. In 2020, the school reopening decision was left to the school management and parents.
In Nagpur, almost a thousand students attended school Thursday. This number is likely to go up as schools start getting permission from village sarpanch and intimate the education department. Nagpur zilla parishad CEO Yogesh Kumbejkar said, “We are updating the school reopening figures daily.”
District education officer Chintaman Vanjari said, “Our officials are coordinating with schools and committee officials. All help needed to restart schools will be provided.”
Last year when the state government allowed schools to reopen in November, the attendance figures kept on rising steadily. At one point almost 50 lakh students were back in classrooms.
A senior education official who retired recently said that those figures need to be looked at in a different way. “In fact, almost one crore students were back in classrooms. Only 50% of the students were allowed to attend on any given day, so schools were calling them on alternate days. If you are looking at how many individuals attended schools, then it will definitely be near the one crore-mark,” said the official.
NAGPUR DIVISION BREAKDOWN
District Schools started
Nagpur -- 92
Gadchiroli -- 194
Gondia -- 37
Chandrapur - 152
Bhandara - N.A
Gondia - NA
Wardha - NA
(Source: Dy director of education office)