Maharashtra to reopen schools from August 17, announces education minister

Maharashtra on Friday became the latest state to announce reopening of schools as state education minister Varsha Gaikwad said schools in both rural and urban areas will reopen on August 17. "Offline classes will commence in rural areas for students from class 5-8, while those in cities will be for students from class 8-12 following Covid-19 protocols," Gaikwad said, according to news agency.

The announcement by the Maharashtra education minister came on a day when two other states, Karnataka  and Tamil Nadu , also laid out plans for the reopening of schools in the respective states.  In Karnataka, schools will reopen for students from class 9-12 from August 23, while in Tamil Nadu offline classes will begin from September 1.

Earlier, on July 12, 5947 schools



in rural areas in Maharashtra resumed offline classes for standards 8-12 in rural areas where Covid-19 cases were not being detected. , in recent days, schools in several other states, including Punjab, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, reopened after being closed due to the devastating second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. In Uttar Pradesh, on campus classes will resume on August 16 for majority of schools for standards 9-12.

In terms of new Covid-19 cases, Maharashtra logged more than 6000 fresh infections each day between August 3 and 5, while on August 2, the daily caseload stood at 4869, according to government data. The western state's cumulative Covid-19 infection tally is at 6,336,220 including 6,124,278 recoveries from the viral disease and 133,530 deaths due to it, as per official data.