HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal went LIVE on Twitter on Thursday, May 14, to interact with teachers and answer their queries regarding how education is being carried out during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Since schools and colleges have been closed for around two months now, since March 16, a primary question on everyone’s mind is regarding when schools will reopen.
While answering a question by Sambhav Jain from Madhya Pradesh on when and how schools will reopen after lockdown, he hinted that since social distancing would need to be maintained even when schools reopen, classes might need to be held with just 30% students.
“The lives of teachers and students are more important right now,” he added.
NCERT has also been asked to create guidelines for academics, he said.
Social distancing in classrooms when schools reopen
While explaining the tough situation now, he gave an example of the kind of problems the taskforces are trying to tackle right now.
“How will a classroom be able to hold 40 students if social distancing is carried out?” HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal asked.
He assured viewers that all such questions were being taken into account and schools and colleges will only reopen after lockdown after all the guidelines and safety precautions has been taken.
Pokhriyal didn’t say anything else about classes resuming with 30% students but it does raise questions about whether this will be the future of education in the Coronavirus pandemic.
StaySafe, Stayhome !
Also published on Medium.