Telangana likely to decide on school reopening next week

Hyderabad: After the Centre's broad guidelines on the reopening of schools across the country, school managements and parents now await the state government's decision on timing and manner of reopening after October 15.

While private schools in the city like Glendale Academy, Johnson Grammar School, Hyderabad Public School say they would be ready with all safety measures in place to ensure students are safe from the virus, budget schools in the state say that they look up to the state government for providing them sanitization facilities and other safety setups to be able to reopen schools in any manner.

The Telangana Recognised School Management Association (TRSMA) General Secretary Sadulla Madhusudhan said, "Putting up the apparatus needed to reopen schools in such a situation needs money, and quite honestly budget schools can barely pay rents right now, in the absence of fee collection. We hope the state government considers our plight before taking any decision."

Meanwhile, parents are divided on the proposal to reopen schools in light of the coronavirus. Nagati Narayana, President of the Telangana Parents Associations said that several surveys have revealed that more than 85% of parents are against the idea of sending kids to school amidst a pandemic. "A low turnout at schools even during the month of September when schools allowed students for clarification on doubts, is proof enough that we don't want schools to reopen for physical classes. So who is asking for schools to reopen?", he said.

Sources in the state education ministry have meanwhile suggested that a meeting in the coming week will be conducted with concerned authorities and departments. It is also learnt that there is a meeting likely to take place on Thursday, with the representatives of the Welfare Department, School Education, with the State Education Minister to decide on the plan of action of Residential Schools.