Wipro, Mahindra chiefs call for reopening schools as Covid cases decline

As several states across India mull reopening of schools, Chairman Rishad Premji on Wednesday took to microblogging platform Twitter to say that the damage of schools staying closed was now much worse than them reopening.

Premji is one among a few top industry leaders in India calling for the reopening of schools immediately, as cases of Covid-19 after the devastating second wave of the pandemic have been in steady decline for nearly two months now.

“We absolutely must open schools. The damage of them staying closed is now worse than schools opening. Lots of lessons to take from other countries that have done this successfully,” Premji said on Twitter on Wednesday.

Premji is a trustee of Azim Premji foundation, which works with school teachers across several states.

His statement comes at a time when several states, including Rajasthan, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, among others have decided to reopen schools from at least for a select number of classes in August.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last week said that his government was concerned about the possibility of a third wave of the pandemic, and would keep an eye on other states that have reopened schools.

Mahindra & Mahindra Chairman Anand Mahindra also took to Twitter to call for all staff to get vaccinated on a priority basis to facilitate the reopening of schools, stating that the country’s future was at stake.

“This is now critical. We need to focus on getting all schools reopened. All staff to get vaccinated on priority to facilitate this reopening,” Mahindra Tweeted tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister for education Dharmendra Pradhan.

States like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are yet to take calls to open schools, while others such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra began opening schools in a limited manner in July itself.

The centre too has asked states to speed up vaccinations of teachers, including asking bodies such as the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the University Grants Commission (UGC) that are under it to assess the situation of vaccination of teachers and staff, according to news reports.