Manipur schools, colleges reopen with several COVID-19 safety procedures in place

After a gap of ten months, schools and colleges in Manipur reopened from Wednesday with several COVID-19 safety procedures in place. Sangeeta Mayengbam, Principal of Tamphasana Girls Higher Secondary School in Imphal, said that students are allowed to attend classes after getting consent from their parents or guardians.

"Students are allowed to attend classes after showing the consent certificate from their parents. One student is allowed to sit on a bench at a time and students are instructed to sit in a zig-zag manner with proper social distancing. The school authorities have distributed face masks among the students," Sangeeta said.

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Freshers who attended her first class were very enthusiastic and felt quite a sense of happiness to be back again. "I feel very happy to attend the first class of the 11th standard. I am very excited to find new friends and teachers," said Nemshi Usha, a student. Another student said that she was very happy and excited to attend normal classes instead of online classes, as her doubts remained unclear in the virtual sessions.

The state cabinet had earlier taken the decision to reopen the schools from classes 9 to 12 from January 27, after they were closed for months owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. "The government in its cabinet meeting had taken a decision to re-open schools for Classes 9 to 12 from January 27, 2021, for the academic session 2020 in order to prepare themselves for the ensuring examinations," the Directorate of Education of Schools, Manipur said while issuing an order. A list of COVID-19 safety measures has been issued to all school authorities.

Manipur has so far reported 29,007 COVID-19 positive cases while 28,476 persons have recovered from the disease. The death toll of the state stands at 370. Students were seen attending the classes with face masks and maintaining social distancing. The new freshers were enthusiastic to attend normal classes at their respective schools.