Decision to reopen schools in Goa only after consulting all stakeholders: Chief Minister

The decision to reopen schools across the state will be taken only after consulting all the stakeholders including the teachers, Goa Chief Minister said.

The Goa Government has announced that it will make a decision to reopen the schools in the state only after consulting all the stakeholding including teachers. While making the announcement, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that teachers' associations are opposed to restarting physical classes immediately, fearing it would be impossible to maintain social distancing in schools. Amid rising coronavirus cases, the safety of students is of paramount importance, Mr Sawant told PTI.

He further added that the state education secretary and director of education have been directed to hold consultations with stakeholders, including school managements, parent-teacher associations and teachers' bodies such as the Goa Headmasters' Association and Goa Principals' Forum. The decision to reopen schools will be taken only after getting approvals from all the stakeholders and putting necessary Standard Operating Procedures in place, he said.

The Chief Minister had held consultations with the stakeholders in the last week of September, and it was then decided that schools will not reopen immediately from October 1. As part of the Unlock 5.0 guidelines, states have been asked to decide on reopening schools from October 15. Mr Sawant said the Goa Government is thinking of starting classes for students of Class 10 and Class 12 first, if and when it decides to reopen schools. Teachers' associations opposed immediate reopening of schools during a meeting with Director of Education Santosh Amonkar, sources said.

The teachers' representative said that it is difficult to maintain social distancing at all times in schools. "None of the schools have the infrastructure to conduct classes while maintaining social distancing. There are common toilets for students, with hundreds of them sharing a single facility in many schools. This will further spread the viral infection," a representative of the Goa Headmasters' Association said. Teachers are already holding classes online and in some cases even visiting students at their homes, he said.

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