BHOPAL: If things go the school education department way, private schools in the state capital are likely to open from August 5.
As per the schedule of the school education department, class 9 and 10 will be allowed to open from August 5. Schools will take final decision on campus reopening after a meeting which is scheduled to be held later this week. Private schools have demanded to allow classes for three days a week instead of one in a week.
There are 72 CBSE affiliated (including 26 missionary schools) private schools and 450 MP Board affiliated schools in the state capital. Besides, there are 110 government schools which have been opened from July 26. However, the attendance continued to be ‘poor’ even after three days of school reopening.
Schools said that they have no problem in reopening the campus but the ongoing model of school opening is not acceptable to them. “With 50% attendance, each student would come only once in a week. We have to open a full campus for just a small number of students. This is not feasible,” said Babu Thomas, secretary of MP Association Private Un-aided Schools. Around 40 schools are associated with the association.
About the school reopening, Thomas said, “It may be possible to open campus from August 5 as students of class 9 and 10 will be also allowed to attend classes. In that situation, schools may get proper students. Schools have been facing huge losses. We need students to open our campuses. However, the final decision to open the campuses will be taken after a meeting which is scheduled for this weekend.”
Missionary schools in the state capital have also kept their campuses closed. “There should be clarity about fees. Government has not mentioned about the fee. We have to run a school campus which requires huge money. One can understand the financial conditions of the school after witnessing the closed campus for over a year,” said Sojan Joseph, secretary, Sahodaya Complex Bhopal. There are around 26 missionary schools in Bhopal.
Kendriya Vidyalaya has decided to open classes from Thursday. “As state government has allowed to open schools, we have decided to open our campus from July 29,” said KV principal, Saurabh Jaitley.
Schools affiliated to the MP board are also closed except for a couple of campuses. School owners said that they are also waiting to see the good strength of students before opening the school campuses.
