Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan held a meeting with senior ministry officials on Wednesday on the status of the reopening of schools across the country and the roadmap for vaccinating their staff.

Schools were closed in March last year ahead of a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of novel coronavirus infection. The Centre had allowed the reopening of schools as per the COVID-19 situation in respective states in October last year.

While several states began partial reopening of schools, there was a complete closure again in April this year when an aggressive second wave of COVID-19 hit the country. With the improvement in the COVID-19 situation, several states have begun reopening schools now even as concerns have been expressed over the staff and teachers not being completely vaccinated.

"Shiksha Mantri Shri @dpradhanbjp reviewed the status of schools reopening across the country with senior officials of Department of School Education and Literacy. He also took stock of the roadmap for vaccinating all teaching and non-teaching staff in schools by the month of September," the Ministry of Education said in a tweet.

The ministry added that the Centre is prioritising vaccination of teaching and non-teaching staff in schools across the country to "ensure a safe environment for reopening of schools".