Amid a constant surge in the number of COVID cases in the country, 4 out of 28 Indian states have decided upon the dates to reopen its schools. In a video conference held on July 15 on the school safety plan, the representatives from Assam, Bihar, Haryana and Manipur have informed that their schools will reopen on July 31, August 15, August 15 and September 1 respectively. Six states and two Union Territories have decided upon the tentative time to reopen schools.
Of these states, Assam has recorded 23,999 COVID cases, while Bihar has 26,569 and Haryana has 26,164 cases. However, Manipur has only recorded 1911 cases and no COVID deaths. Andhra Pradesh, which has 49,650 cases, will tentatively reopen its schools on September 5, while Nagaland with 988 cases and zero deaths will reopen in the first week of September.
Delhi schools will 'preferably' reopen in the first week of August. Even though the capital has reported 1,22,793 COVID cases, it has been seeing a dip in the number of new cases over the past two weeks. Arunachal Pradesh with 740 cases and 3 deaths will reopen its schools after August 2020.
Even though the official representing Karnataka has said that the schools will reopen after September 1, the state's Education Minister S Suresh Kumar told the New Indian Express that the schools will be reopened only after making the atmosphere conducive and safe for students. Kerala and Ladakh plan to reopen its schools after August 31. While the former has reported 12,480 cases, the latter has 1178 cases. Rajasthan with 29,434 cases will 'probably' reopen its schools in September.
Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, the states with the highest number of COVID cases — 3,10,455 and 1,70,693 respectively are yet to make a decision, along with all the other states and Union Territories. Currently, India has 3,90,459 active COVID cases. While 7,00,086 have recovered, 27,497 have succumbed to the virus and the fatality rate stands at 2.5 per cent.
