Will schools in Maharashtra reopen next week amid rising Omicron cases? Proposal sent to CM

Mumbai, Jan 19: The schools in Maharashtra might possibly open next week if Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray gives a nod. A proposal on the issue has been sent and the decision is expected to be taken by the government this week, school education minister Varsha Gaikwad said.

The Maharashtra minister on Wednesday said that the proposal to reopen schools, including primary schools, in the state from next week based on the local Covid-19 situations is sent to the Chief Minister.

The state government had earlier announced the closure of schools in the state till February 15 owing to rising coronavirus cases. "After COVID cases rose, the government decided not to continue with the school (offline) sessions. But after discussion with the experts, it has been decided to start the sessions where the number of cases is low based on the local COVID-19 situation," Gaikwad said.

"A proposal has been sent to the chief minister. It states that reopening of schools should be considered from Monday and all the power to do so should be given to the local authorities (municipal commissioners, district collectors, chief executive officers, education officers," the school education minister added.

She is hoping that the chief minister would positively look into the proposal. Stressing the need to inoculate students in the age group of 15 to 18 years, the minister urged teaching and non-teaching staff to get fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra has reported 43,697 fresh Covid-19 cases on Wednesday. A total of 46591 patients recovered from the infection and 49 people died to the highly-infectious disease. PTI