AURANGABAD: A day after the city witnessed almost threefold rise in daily Covid cases, the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Wednesday ordered closure of primary schools till Class VIII from Thursday till the end of January.
Classroom teaching for students of Classes IX and above is, however, permitted till further notice. Also, no official call was taken by authorities till Wednesday evening regarding closure of schools in the rural areas that have also started experiencing a gradual rise in daily Covid cases.
AMC administrator Asik Kumar Pandey said closure was essential to avoid crowding at city schools in the wake of a fresh surge in Covid cases. “Depending on the Covid situation in near future, the official decision on reopening of schools will be taken after January. Schools violating the order will face action,” he said.
After a gap of around 20 months, several primary schools within the municipal limits of Aurangabad had reopened on December 20 with only five-day per week working was allowed.
A section of these schools had preferred to resume classroom teaching post-Christmas vacations on January 3. The move of closure of primary schools in Aurangabad has gone down well with many parents, who said they were apprehensive over the safety of their wards in the backdrop of the pandemic situation raising its ugly head.
“The current rise in Covid cases in the state and city is scary. The schools invariably witness crowding including that of parents at the time of dropping and picking their wards as bus facility is still not available,” Renuka Sonawane, a parent, said.
While many pre-primary schools, which do not come under the ambit of any government framework, had also resumed their operations recently, these institutes were also expected to stop classroom teaching from Thursday.
Classroom teaching for students of Classes IX and above is, however, permitted till further notice. Also, no official call was taken by authorities till Wednesday evening regarding closure of schools in the rural areas that have also started experiencing a gradual rise in daily Covid cases.
AMC administrator Asik Kumar Pandey said closure was essential to avoid crowding at city schools in the wake of a fresh surge in Covid cases. “Depending on the Covid situation in near future, the official decision on reopening of schools will be taken after January. Schools violating the order will face action,” he said.
After a gap of around 20 months, several primary schools within the municipal limits of Aurangabad had reopened on December 20 with only five-day per week working was allowed.
A section of these schools had preferred to resume classroom teaching post-Christmas vacations on January 3. The move of closure of primary schools in Aurangabad has gone down well with many parents, who said they were apprehensive over the safety of their wards in the backdrop of the pandemic situation raising its ugly head.
“The current rise in Covid cases in the state and city is scary. The schools invariably witness crowding including that of parents at the time of dropping and picking their wards as bus facility is still not available,” Renuka Sonawane, a parent, said.
While many pre-primary schools, which do not come under the ambit of any government framework, had also resumed their operations recently, these institutes were also expected to stop classroom teaching from Thursday.
.