The schools in Madhya Pradesh will not be reopened for the students of classes 1 to 8 from September 1 as speculated earlier. State Education Minister Inder Singh Parmar said the decision on resumption of physical classes for the students of 1 to 8 would be taken after consultations with the department of Home and Health department of the state.

Since July 26, students of classes 9 to 12 are attending physical classes with a 50 percent cap on attendance.

While speaking to News 18, Parmar said that schools will be reopened across the state in a phased manner. “First, we will allow the reopening of schools for classes 6 to 8. Later, a decision will be taken on reopening of classes for 1 to 5,” he said.

Parmar said that plans have been made to reopen schools for classes 6 to 8 from next month. However, he did not tell the exact date of the resumption of classes.

“By the end of August, we will take the approval of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on our plan to reopen the schools for classes 6 to 8. We are planning to re-reopen the schools of these classes with a limited number of students. After this we will think about resuming classes with safety measures for primary schools,” he added.

Meanwhile the private schools in the state are demanding reopening of schools for all classes. The private schools have announced to hold protests across the state from September 2. There are around 45,000 private schools affiliated with the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE). They are demanding the state government to allow the reopening of schools for all classes in compliance with Covid-19 safety protocols and guidelines.

Madhya Pradesh on Thursday reported six new Covid-19 cases whereas the state has 77 active cases.

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