Chocolates, flowers, balloons for primary students as schools reopen across UP

Children in Uttar Pradesh were in for a treat on Monday as schools reopened for students of Classes 1 to 5 across the state after a year-long closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath paid a visit to the Narrahi primary school and distributed chocolates to the children to mark the occasion. In the capital city of Lucknow, children were greeted with cakes, laddus, balloons and flowers as they returned to school.

Uttar Pradesh opened schools in a phased manner with physical classes for Classes 1 to 5 from Monday and for those in Classes 6 to 8, schools restarted from February 10.

According to the state’s basic education department, classes will be held two days a week and only half of the total number of students will be allowed to attend to ensure social distancing norms can be maintained. Mid-day meals will be provided to students.

To attend in-person classes students will need parental consent. Parents have been asked by authorities to provide detailed information about their ward's health and history of travel, both national and international. Proper arrangements for online classes have also been put into place for those who do not wish to resume physical classes just yet.

"It will be mandatory for all the schools to get a written consent letter from parents to send their students for attending classes. Parents will also give complete information about the health status of students and about their national and international travel if any," read the guidelines released by the state.

UP currently has 2103 active cases of Covid-19 in the state. In the last 24 hours, the state logged zero fatalities related to the coronavirus disease.