Haryana schools set to re-open July 27 but colleges, universities stay shut till Juy 31
Schools in Haryana will be on a summer break from July 1 to July 26 and will re-open, to teaching and non-teaching staff only, from July 27, the state's Education Department said Wednesday.
On resumption students will continue to attend classes via video conference, as educational institutions across the country remain closed in view of the coronavirus lockdown, while staff will be required to conduct and monitor these from their respective classrooms.
"This notice is for teaching and non-teaching staff who used to come to schools to monitor online classes and have been given summer vacations till July 26. Resumption of classes in schools will be decided as per MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) guidelines that will be issued later," Mahavir Singh, Additional Chief Secretary (School Education), said.
The order also said all universities and colleges will be shut, in line with the centre's instructions, till July 31, when the current phase of restrictions to prevent further spread of the COVID-19 virus come to an end.
The order noted that "e-learning for the students may be continued" and said that a further decision on re-opening higher education centres could be taken after consultation with vice-chancellors and all stakeholders.
Physical classes at all educational institutions in the country were stopped in March during the first phase of the coronavirus lockdown. Since then many schools and educational institutions have been conducting online classes.
In May the centre said a decision on re-opening educational institutions would be taken in July after discussing ground realities of the coronavirus outbreak with parents, the governments of states and union territories and all stakeholders.
However, when guidelines were released this week for "Unlock2", the second stage of India's emergence from the coronavirus lockdown, the government said schools, colleges and coaching institutions would be closed till July 31.
"Unlock2" will run from July 1 to July 31.
Many other states have already said their educational institutions will remain closed for now. Odisha closed them till August 31, and both Bengal and Delhi said all schools would stay shut till July 31.
In anticipation of the eventual re-opening of these institutions, the Union Health Ministry is expected to release a list of SOPs (standard operating procedures) related to education to ensure social distancing and to avoid further spread of the COVID-19 virus, the government has said.
The Haryana government's order comes a day after the Punjab and Haryana High Court allowed private schools to collect tuition fee "irrespective of offering online classes" to students during the coronavirus lockdown period.
However, the court also said that all such schools would have to try and impart online learning so education was not adversely impacted due to either prevailing lockdown conditions or similar situations in the future.