Primary and pre-primary students of state-run schools of West Bengal will be given lessons in open spaces, the West Bengal education department has said.
The Paray Shikshalay (neighbourhood school) initiative rolled out by the education department has received the approval of the state secretariat. Para-teachers and primary school teachers will be engaged to impart elementary education to students of Classes I to V.
“Children have long been deprived of tutorial lessons owing to the COVID-19 pandemic-induced restrictions. We have now decided hold classes on open ground,” an education department official said.
Besides elementary education, students would be encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities such as elocution and painting, the official added.
Pre-primary, primary and middle schools have been shut in West Bengal ever since March 2019 after the pandemic broke out.
Offline classes were first resumed for senior school students for a brief period in February 2020 but shut again in April 2020 amid the second wave of COVID-19. Students of Classes IX to XII returned to campus after a 20-month break in November 2020.
On January 3, 2022, the West Bengal government once again announced the closure of all schools because of the Omicron-led third wave of the pandemic. The West Bengal education department has now appealed to the state secretariat to consider reopening of schools once again. Teachers, parents and students have been calling for resumption of offline classes.
West Bengal education minister Bratya Basu had said ahead of the November 2021 reopening that offline school would resume for all classes in phases.