Hyderabad, Aug 24 (IANS): With the Covid-19 situation under control, the government of Telangana on Monday decided to reopen all educational institutions from September 1.
All private and government schools including Angandwadis will be re-opened, announced the government.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao directed the officials to reopen all institutions from KG to PG in both rural and urban areas.
At a meeting, he asked Panchayat Raj and municipal administration ministers and officials to ensure santisation of all schools, colleges and hostels by August 30.
Education minister P. Sabitha Indra Reddy, panchayat raj minister E. Dayakar Rao, MP K. Keshava Rao, government's chief advisor Rajiv Sharma, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, CM's Principal Secretary Narsing Rao and other officials attended the meeting.
Speaking at the meeting, the Chief Minister said due to Covid pandemic educational institutions faced lot of difficulties. Due to closure of educational institutions, students, parents, private school teachers and others connected with the education and allied fields landed in uncertainty.
The meeting discussed the steps taken by governments in some states to reopen the educational institutions and the strategy to be adopted in the state.
The health department officials briefed on the latest Covid situation in the state. They gave the report that Covid situation has come under control and life has returned to normal.
The officials of education department told the meeting that due to continued closure of educational institutions, students especially school children have come under psychological stress and this may have an impact on their future.
Keeping this in mind and after studying all aspects and after taking views of all, the chief minister decided that all educational institutions should be re-opened with proper precautionary measures.
KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, entrusted to panchayat raj and municipal administration departments the responsibility to clean all the schools which were closed both in towns and villages.
He said village sarpanchs and municipal chairpersons should ensure cleanliness in all schools before the end of August.
The chief minister directed them to visit the schools in their respective areas and ensure sanitisation of the entire premises.
After reopening of schools if any student develops fever, the concerned headmaster or principal should take him to nearest primary health centre and get Covid test conducted.
The officials were asked to ensure strict adherence to precautions like sanitization and wearing of masks. The chief minister appealed to parents to send their children to schools with precautionary measures like wearing of masks.
After a gap of nearly 11 months, educational institutions in the state had re-opened in February this year. However, due to the surge in Covid-19 cases during second wave, they were shut down on March 24. However, online classes continued for students.
For a second consecutive year, no exams could be conducted for class 1 to 10 due to Covid pandemic. All students were promoted to the next class.