Telangana High Court Stays Government Order To Reopen Schools From September 1

Telangana Schools Not To Reopen: The state high court today put a stay on the government's order to reopen schools from September 1. The high court's decision came in response to a PIL.

The court in its order has said that no student from classes KG to class 12 would be compelled to attend offline classes, whether in government-run or privately owned schools. The K Chandrashekhar Rao government had decided to go ahead with the reopening of schools from September 1 for classes VIII to XII. The state government had also issued detailed SOPs for the reopening and cited that the pandemic has adversely affected educational institutions.

Telangana High Court stays state government order to reopen educational institutions from September 1 pic.twitter.com/zKqiUcqeCt

— ANI (@ANI) August 31, 2021

The court has said, "No action can be taken against parents or schools for not attending or conducting physical classes." The petition said, "the Telangana government did not discuss with private schools before deciding to resume physical classes."

The state government on August 24 announced that all government and private educational institutions including Anganwadi centres will welcome back students from September 1 and allowed 100 per cent attendance.

Schools were asked to carry out sanitisation ahead of the reopening. School heads were directed to prepare a customised seating plan ensuring social distancing and students, employees and teaching staff were asked to wear masks at all times.

Last week Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee announced that schools for all classes will reopen after the Durga Puja vacation in the state. Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Adami Party Chief Arvind Kejriwal said that the schools in the capital will reopen for classes IX to XII on September 1 and classes VI to VIII will welcome back their students from September 8th. However, Himachal Pradesh announced its decision to keep the schools closed till September 4th.

So far in India, no mass vaccination drives have started for children under the age of 18.