Schools were set to reopen from September 1 in Telangana as per an order passed by the K Chandrashekhar Rao government on August 24. However, a two-judge panel of the Telangana High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice M S Ramchandra Rao and Justice T Vinod Kumar has stayed that order, and asked the government to submit a detailed list of guidelines and procedures in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 once schools reopen. The panel has also instructed all hostels and residential schools in the state to stay shut for another week.
The panel was reviewing the order after a writ petition by B Krishna Mandapati. Further, the court also said that students should not be compelled to attend offline classes on the school premises under any circumstances. Earlier, there had been reports of parents expressing uneasiness at the government making consent forms compulsory for the students to attend schools. As part of the guidelines already issues, the state had mandated schools to have proper sanitisation and seating protocols in place, and that staff and students should be wearing masks at all times.
Speaking to Express before the government had passed the order, Sai Venkat, Joint Secretary, Hyderabad Parents Association, “We are not against the decision, but before the reopening of the schools, the government should be able to give a proper reassurance to all the parents in the State that all measures like complete sanitation, maintaining social distance and medical facilities will be provided in the schools and if something goes wrong, the government will take accountability.”
