In a bid to make students aware of COVID-19, the West Bengal education department is considering introducing a chapter on the deadly virus in the school curriculum from 2021, an official said on Tuesday.

State education minister Partha Chatterjee has recently raised the issue on how to disseminate information about the nature of the novel coronavirus and necessary precautionary measures to prevent the outbreak, the official of the syllabus committee said. "We are holding discussions on the issue among members and experts," syllabus committee chairman Aveek Majumder said.

There are plans to introduce the topic on the coronavirus from junior to higher classes, another official said. Learning basic hygiene and safety measures to prevent contamination in junior classes and letting the higher class students know the type of contagion and its mutants are important in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, he said.

"Apart from teachers and educationists, we need to take the expert views from doctors, virologists, epidemiologists before deciding on the exact content of the chapter," Majumder added.