Unlock 1.0: When will schools reopen in India?

New Delhi, June 08: The government is mulling to reopen schools across the country after August 15, after accessing thesituation of the coronavirus crisis at the time.

On the issue of reopening of schools, Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said "after August the process of opening schools will be started." A final decision in this regard will be taken only after assessing the prevailing conditions. According to the HRD ministry, after August, new sessions will also start in universities.

Schools and colleges across the country have been closed since March 16, soon after the centre announced the nationwide lockdown to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.

Talking about the roadmap for reopening of schools, School Education Secretary Anita Karwal earlier this month indicated that the pandemic has put the focus on the quality of digital education.

"We are now trying to realign the whole learning process, the pedagogy, the instructional process, the way children will be called to schools. What happens at the entry and exit points at the school, what are the changed roles of teachers...we are working on all this," she was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

"Another area of importance is the quality of digital education which we had postponed before the pandemic happened. We realised that whatever we put in the digital education universe, it has to be of the highest quality, something which is engaging, interacting and able to communicate with the stakeholders," she reportedly said.