In a good news for school students and teachers in Maharashtra, the state government on Friday announced that the school holidays have been extended for nine more days on the occasion of Diwali.
As per the state government notification, online education in schools will be closed from November 7-20. Previously, only five days i.e. from November 12-16, was declared as a holiday but on the request of students and teachers, the state government increased the number of holidays by nine days.
Meanwhile, school education minister Varsha Gaikwad on Saturday said that classes 9 to 12 of schools in Maharashtra will reopen from November 23.
Gaikwad said all teachers will undergo RT-PCR coronavirus tests between November 17 and 22. "Schools will reopen on November 23, and students will undergo thermal checking at entry," she said.
Only one student will be seated per bench, the minister said. Further, classes will be held on alternate days and science, maths and English will be taught while other subjects will be taught online, Gaikwad said.
On Friday, Gaikwad had announced that the examinations of Class X and XII conducted by the state board will not be held before May 2021 due to the prevailing coronavirus situation. Usually, the MSBSHSE conducts these exams during February-March, but next year, these may be delayed by a couple of months for the current academic year in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Maharashtra on Saturday reported 3,959 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the total count to 17,14,273, state health department said. With 150 fatalities, the cumulative toll in the state climbed to 45,115.
A total of 6,748 patients were discharged in the day, taking the tally of recoveries to 15,69,090, a health official said, adding that the number of active cases decreased from 1 lakh to 99,151. The state has so far conducted 93,78,531 tests.
