oppn parties As Coronavirus Cases Likely To Peak In September, Reopening Schools Should Wait

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
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  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
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  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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As Coronavirus Cases Likely To Peak In September, Reopening Schools Should Wait

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-07-29 17:41:24

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The West Bengal government has said that it is eyeing Teacher's Day (5th September) as the probable date when it will allow the reopening of educational institutions across the state. Schools and colleges all over India have been closed since March due to the pandemic. This has meant that students have already lost four and a half months of classroom studies. Online classes, where ever being conducted, are beset with many problems and have not been entirely successful in imparting the level of learning possible in the classroom. Further, students have been deprived of sports and physical education classes and extracurricular activities that are equally important for their overall development.

Yet, one feels that the reopening of educational institutions is not something that can be rushed. Since the West Bengal government is worried about rising coronavirus cases in the state and has been clamping bi-weekly total lockdowns from the middle of July (there are 7 lockdown days in August), it is probably not the right time to talk about reopening the education sector. Also, experts have warned that coronavirus cases in India will peak in September before the curve flattens. To be fair to the government, it has only given a probable date with the proviso that a final decision will be taken by August 31 after reviewing the situation then. It has also said that if opened, schools will be told to have classes for half the students on alternate days. That is the best way.

Educational institutions must be reopened as early as feasible but not by putting children at risk. Many schools and colleges will neither have the wherewithal nor the inclination (due to additional costs involved) to strictly follow all health advisories and will endanger the health of students. There may be laxity and it will prove costly. If students go to schools and colleges, they will interact with each other and will not always follow physical distancing norms. They will not only use the classrooms but also the toilets, libraries, labs and playgrounds. It will be practically impossible for schools to sanitize everything daily and keep an eye on the students. Also, many parents are not inclined to send their wards to schools and colleges in the absence of a vaccine or a verifiable treatment of coronavirus.

In the interim, the government should at least make a detailed inquiry about which educational institutes are conducting online classes and for how long. It has been reported that many institutes of higher learning, including institutes imparting technical education, have not been conducting regular online classes. They are the ones best placed to take education online but they have not used the opportunity afforded by the disruption to do so. Yet, when it will come to charging fees for the duration of the closure, they will not make any concessions for the students. The state government must draw up a list of such institutes and ask them the reasons for not holding online classes and depriving the students of learning for the last nearly five months.

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