Schools resumed physical sessions for classes 1 to 12 in Maharashtra on Monday and the state government expressed hope that students would enjoy being back to their classrooms in a safe atmosphere.

In Pune and Aurangabad, however, schools remained closed. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday said no decision has been taken regarding the resumption of physical classes at schools in the Pune district as COVID-19 cases are on the rise.

Maharashtra School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad had made the announcement last week of schools being reopened and said parents’ consent will be important for attendance. The minister also said that local authorities have been empowered to assess the Covid situation and take the decision regarding safe reopening of schools.

Gaikwad, announcing the decision of reopening schools said parents and teachers of the state wanted resumption of physical classes. “During our continued dialogue with parents & teachers, we received consistent feedback about restarting physical classes along with online education for better learning outcomes. During my recent interaction with Collectors/CEOs, a similar view was expressed,” the minister said last week.

On Monday morning, Gaikwad greeted students and parents on the reopening of physical classes.

"Wishing all parents and students the very best as physical classes reopen today onwards. We hope you enjoy your day back in a safe atmosphere. #BackToSchool. @scertmaha @CMOMaharashtra @msbshse," Gaikwad tweeted.

To ensure health and safety of students, schools will ensure strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols and SOPs.. Students and teachers will wear masks at all times and only one student will sit on a bench. Vaccination drives for older students to be ramped up.

Last week, the Maharashtra government allowed the offline classes to resume from January 24 after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray approved a proposal to this effect that was sent to him by the school education department.

Schools across the state were closed in the first week of January due to a spike in the coronavirus cases and in the wake of the emergence of the highly infectious Omicron variant. However, a number of parents, activists in the field as well as teachers had strongly opposed the move to shut the schools, saying it would adversely affect the students.

In Mumbai, the local civic body had earlier announced the closure of schools for Classes 1 to 9 till January 31.

But, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) assessment later indicated that the cases of Omicron infection were not on the rise, and it had said the curve was flattening. It had prompted officials to propose the reopening of schools for physical attendance.

In Mumbai too, various schools resumed offline classes in the morning.

Last week, BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal had said that in-person or offline classes will resume in pre-primary schools too.

While allowing the schools to resume physical classes, the state government has asked them to strictly adhere to Covid-19 protocols and guidelines.

On Sunday, Maharashtra reported 40,805 Covid-19 cases, taking its tally to 75,07,225, while 44 fatalities pushed the toll to 1,42,115, a health department official earlier said.

No Omicron case was detected in the state on Sunday, keeping the tally of those affected by the new variant to 2,759, of whom 1,437 have been discharged so far, the official said.

Sunday was the fourth day in a row that daily Covid-19 cases dropped in India's financial capital.

Active Covid-19 cases were now at 19,808. The positivity rate in Mumbai was also down to 7.15% from 10% a day ago and 30% on 7 January.

A statement from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's health department said that 84% or 2,142 of the 2,550 new patients are asymptomatic. It said 337 more patients were hospitalised of whom 40 are on oxygen support. The percentage of occupied beds out of the total beds available in Mumbai is 10.6%.

With 231 Covid-19 patients discharged during the day, the number of recoveries rose to 9,95,569.

Around 49,895 Covid-19 tests were conducted during the day. The total of samples tested rose to 1,49,31,225.