Schools in Pune prepare to reopen on Nov 23; Mumbai schools to be shut till year end

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], November 20 (ANI): Schools in Pune are gearing up to reopen on November 23, after the Pune Municipal Corporation on Thursday issued guidelines for their reopening.
"Schools in Pune have started preparation to reopen. Sanitization is being done in the classrooms and school premises. Benches are being arranged in the classrooms in order to maintain social distancing. All precautions of Covid-19 are being taken into consideration," said Milind Naik, Principal of Jnana Prabodhini Prashala School, Pune.
Rubal Agarwal, the additional Municipal Commissioner of Pune Municipal Corporation, said "An order to start private and government schools was issued yesterday. Today, we have prepared a checklist for schools. Unless they follow the checklist, they would not be allowed to function. Our team will physically visit the schools and check whether the basic infrastructure required to follow the guidelines provided by the government is adhered to and only if, they have the required infrastructure, they will be permitted to function."
Agarwal said there are about 400 private schools and 45 government schools in the jurisdiction of Pune Municipal Corporation.
Maharashtra school education minister Varsha Gaikwad today said the decision on reopening schools will have to be taken by the local administration of each and every city and district, who will take the decision considering the Covid-19 pandemic situation.
Following the surge in Covid-19 cases in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) today said that all schools in its jurisdiction will remain closed till December 31.
"All schools in BMC jurisdiction to remain closed till December 31. The decision has been taken in the wake of rise in coronavirus cases in Mumbai. Schools will not re-open on November 23rd," Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar said.
On November 7, the state government of Maharashtra had granted permission to resume physical classroom sessions for all schools for class 9 to class 12 students with effect from November 23 across the state. The state Education Department had also released a set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to be followed during the reopening of schools.
(ANI)