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

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
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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