DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand state cabinet on Wednesday allowed schools to restart regular classes for Class 10 and 12 students from November 2.
Madan Kaushik, state cabinet ministers and spokesperson for the government said, "After getting feedback from the parents and consulting the schools the decision has been taken. All safety norms will be followed to ensure the safety of the students as well all the school staff."
Earlier, the state government's district-wise survey resulted in over 50% parents and guardians supporting the opening of schools.
The cabinet meeting also decided on 17 other issues including rolling back pay cuts of state government employees, increasing the rate of pine leaves from Re 1 to Rs 2 and many others.
The state government had instructed all 13 district magistrates to conduct a survey for opinions of parents and guardians on re-opening of schools till October 10. However, the survey is not complete yet across the hill state.
If the parents agree to open the schools, it will be done in phases. In the first phase, classes 9 to 12 will be included, classes 6 to 12 in the second phase and all other classes in the third phase.
The Unlock 5.0 guidelines for Uttarakhand released on October 1 by the state government mentioned that decision of reopening of schools after October 15 in a phased manner graded manner in consultation with the parents, guardians and schools/ institution managements, based on their assessment of
the situation.
"Department of Education will prepare their own standard Operating Procedures regarding health and safety precautions for re-opening of schools/ institutions based on the SOPs issued by Department of School Education and Literacy (DOSEL), Ministry of Education. Government of India, keeping local requirements in view," said the Unlock 5.0 guidelines.