All schools to be reopened on the same day, decision yet to be finalised

The Education Ministry is planning to open all schools on the same day, instead of resuming educational activities on a staggered basis, a senior Ministry official said.

The Ministry, in consultation with health officials, is likely to take a decision at the end of this month, regarding the reopening of schools.

The official said some provincial schools, particularly those in rural areas where there had been no imminent threat of COVID-19, had requested if they could resume educational activities. However the Ministry insisted all schools should reopen on the same day.

One of the reasons this decision was taken was because certain teachers serving in these provincial schools, may be from COVID-19 affected areas, the official said.

“The area may have been not affected, but a person from outside could bring in the virus,” the official added.

So far, instructions had been only given to non-academic staff in schools to come in, so they could set up the necessary arrangements such as installing wash basins to be used when the schools are re-opened, he said.

Schools had also received instructions to not allow students into the premises for any sports practices or other extracurricular activities.

Meanwhile the Ministry is looking at ways of bridging a gap of over 300 educational hours lost during the past eight weeks.

One of the proposals was for schools to be kept open over the weekend to catch up these lost hours, while another proposal was for school hours to be extended by two hours a day, after schools reopened.

“Some times we may implement a mix of both these proposals. A final decision is yet to be taken,” the official said.