WB Schools to Reopen from 16th November, Check Guidelines and Important Instructions Here

WB School Reopening: As per the updates, the West Bengal school authorities are preparing for the reopening of the schools. The schools for higher classes will reopen for students from 16th November 2021. The school education department has asked the institutions to follow all COVID-19 SOPs and guidelines. The Education Minister, Bratya Basu, has stated that the school education department has left the decision in the hands of the parents/guardians to take the call of whether to send their children to school or not. Schools will reopen in the state after a gap of 20 months. Physical classes began for a short period for senior school students in mid-February but were shut again in April amid the rise of the second wave of COVID-19.

Measures To Be Taken by West Bengal Schools

As per media reports, the South Point School in South Kolkata will only ask students in classes nine and 11 to attend practicals on scheduled dates from November 16, but the tutorials will continue to be held in the online mode for the next month when the situation will be reviewed, said Trustee of South Point Education Society Krishna Damani. Also, the GD Birla Centre for Education will conduct classes in offline mode thrice a week for students of Classes 9 to 12, from 16th November. As per a spokesperson, "We have rescheduled the routine in such a way that there is no crowding in classrooms so that students can maintain a physical distance from each other and at the same time not compromise with the content of teaching." He further added that the school authorities will assess the situation for some time and then decide accordingly.

Sarbari Brahma, Principal, Griffins International School, Kharagpur said, “Students have long been detached from the usual school life. Some of the newly admitted students in Grade 11 have not even seen the school campus properly. So, we first intend to acclimatise them to the environment of the school campus," as per media reports.

West Bengal Offline Classes

After Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's announcement that educational institutions will reopen for physical classes in a graded manner if the COVID situation improves, the school education department and higher education departments issued a notification about starting offline classes from classes 9th to 12th in schools, and colleges and universities.

However, it was left to the authorities concerned of the respective colleges and universities to discuss the modalities and decide students of which semesters at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels will be given priority for attending offline classes.