The school education department of Maharashtra on Monday announced Diwali vaccation for all schools from October 28 to November 10. In the wake of the festival, during the vacation no offline and online lectures will be conducted. The state government issued a notification in the same matter today.

Physical classes in schools resumed across Maharashtra from October 4, as announced by the state government earlier last month. Schools in Maharashtra were closed due to the prevalent COVID-19 situation in the state. School education minister Varsha Gaikwad had earlier said,“All the schools in rural areas will resume physical classes for standards 5th to 12th."

Until now schools were conducting physical classes only in those areas which were reporting relatively fewer COVID-19 cases.

Physical classes would not resume yet for standards 1st to 7th in urban areas and standards 1st to 4th in rural areas.

The reopening decision was taken after consulting health officials as well as the state government''s COVID-19 task force, Gaikwad said.

“The school education department has given the powers to implement the decision as per local conditions to district collectors. Every school will have to conduct a parent-teacher meeting and apprise parents about precautions as well as the immediate steps to be taken by the school administration," she said.

Gaikwad said that students will be facilitated with access to online and offline classes. They will come to schools only with the consent of their parents.

"The attendance will not be made compulsory for students as they will be able to receive education through both online and offline mediums and our content is available on YouTube. Students will come to schools only with the consent of their parents," Gaikwad had said.

Staggered school hours, social distancing inside classrooms, setting up school health clinics are some of the suggested SOPs by the Maharashtra government.

The state government in July this year had allowed schools to restart physical classes in the rural areas where COVID-19 prevalence was negligible. The decision mainly benefited theVidarbha region.

ALSO READ

Maharashtra Social Justice Minister and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde’s Facebook page hacked