Close to 300 residential schools in Jharkhand will reopen for higher classes from Monday after being shut for the last 10 months because of the lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

While day boarding schools were allowed to hold on-campus lessons for classes 10 and 12 for from the third week of December last year in view of the upcoming board examinations, residential schools like Kasturba vidyalayas and the one in Netarhat continued to remain close as a precautionary measure.

But state school education and literacy department secretary Rahul Sharma said that the government had allowed residential schools to reopen from Monday amid strict adherence to Covid safety parameters. On January 12, he had issued a letter to all districts detailing dos and don’ts so that classes could begin from Monday.

According to the letter, a copy of which is with The Telegraph Online, all residential schools would allow students of class 10 and 12 with consent letters from parents. Along with offline classes, online mode of teaching would also continue uninterrupted for those who did not wish to attend school.

Teachers of such schools were directed to report three days in advance, while schools were asked to sanitise classrooms and hostel premises. On campus, everyone was asked to wear masks and observe social distancing norms.

All schools have been asked to conducted regular health check-ups of students either through an in-house doctor/health team or by tying up with the nearest health centre. “Thermal scanning will be a must before allowing anyone to enter the school premises,” the order said.

To ensure safe distancing within the hostels, school management are directed to use only up to 50 per cent capacity of any room to lodge students and entry of symptomatic people will be banned. Schools are also mandated to arrange to isolate students/staff members in case of illness.

Also, schools were asked to put up posters and distribute pamphlets within the premises to sensitise students about the pandemic and various safety measures.

An official of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidhyalaya in Khunti said they were ready, but the number of students ready to return to campus was not encouraging. “There are over 200 students in higher classes. But barely 10 per cent have so far expressed willingness to come. Hopefully, things will improve gradually,” the official said.