West Bengal to reopen primary and upper primary schools from Feb 16

While making the announcement regarding the school reopening and relaxation of COVID-19 guidelines, the West Bengal government said, “A separate standard operating procedure will be issued by School Education Department in this regard."

WB School Reopening: The West Bengal government has decided to reopen primary and upper primary schools from February 16. The state reopened schools for Classes 8 to 12 on February 3, while open-air learning sessions for students up to Class 7 started four days later under a project named 'Paray Shikshalay' (education centre at your locality).

While making the announcement regarding the school reopening and relaxation of COVID-19 guidelines, the West Bengal government said, “A separate standard operating procedure will be issued by School Education Department in this regard."

"On reopening primary schools, we will wait for a few more days and review the Covid-19 situation. We have heard that a new variant (of the virus) is coming. We have to keep a tab on that," Mamata Banerjee said at a state government programme in Kolkata earlier.

Meanwhile, various states across the country including Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh resumed offline classes after many months of closure from February 14. On February 2, 2022, the Central Government released revised guidelines for the reopening of schools and asked states and Union Territories (UTs) to decide at their level whether schools require consent from parents to allow students in classrooms.

According to the revised guidelines, the government has given permission to states and UTs to decide whether consent from parents is needed to attend offline classes. However, the new guidelines have also asked parents to give their consent if states or UTs ask for it.

Further, the guidelines issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, suggested preparing bridge courses and implementing them in classrooms.

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