Schools In Maharashtra To Reopen For Classes 1 To 12 From January 24

The Maharashtra Education Minister has announced that the schools will resume for all classes from next week. According to Varsha Gaikwad, Maharashtra's School Education Minister, all schools must implement Covid-19 regulations strictly.

"We will be reopening schools for classes 1 to 12 with proper Covid protocols from January 24; Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has consented to our proposal," stated Gaikwad as reported by news agency ANI.

State Health Minister Rajesh Tope, last week stated that schools in the state needed to reopen. He remarked, "Demands for school reopening are increasing from various quarters as students are lacking access to education."

The Maharashtra government declared earlier this month that schools in the state would be closed till February 15 as the number of coronavirus infections began to rise in December due to the emergence of the new Omicron variant.

"The government chose not to continue with the school (offline) sessions after the number of Covid cases increased. However, after conferring with experts, it was decided to start the sessions where the number of cases is minimal, depending on the Covid-19 situation in the area," said Gaikwad.

According to the health department, Maharashtra registered 43,697 new coronavirus positive cases on Wednesday, up 10% over the previous day, with 214 Omicron infections and 49 fatalities. The number of cases in the state increased to 73,25,825, with 1,41,934 fatalities. According to the report, the new Omicron cases pushed the total number of people infected with this strain to 1,860.