Chicago, Aug 31 (IANS): Students of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) returned to in-person classes after 18 months of online studying since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US

CPS is preparing for hundreds of thousands of students to head back to classrooms, the first complete resumption of in-person learning since the pandemic forced classes to go online in March 2020, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday.

Different from the academic life in normal years, students will be masked; meals will be staggered between classrooms and cafeterias; and some students will be tested for Covid-19 once a week with a nasal swab as the pandemic still rages on, reports Xinhua news agency.

While CPS has touted a variety of safety protections for the new school year, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), a few dozen elected officials and some parents say these measures need to be strengthened, as questions remain about how the CPS will execute its testing program, how many positive cases could upend the in-person system and how simultaneous teaching will work if someone in the building gets infected.

While CPS employees are required to be fully vaccinated by October 15, there is no such mandate for eligible students.

In a letter to CPS last week, CTU President Jesse Sharkey reiterated the union's proposal to increase vaccination rates through 100 school-based events per week, student home visits and incentives such as rental assistance and cash.

Shots are available at eight school-based health centres and at vaccination clinics at four high schools, and CPS says there are plans for more mobile vaccination events.

About 45 per cent of Chicago kids aged from 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated, according to city data from last week, while nearly 58 per cent of them have had at least one dose.

First graders and nearly all other elementary school students are too young for the shots.

CPS, officially classified as City of Chicago School District for funding and districting reasons, is the third largestin the US and has 340,658 students enrolled at the start of school year 2020-2021.