Amid growing concern over the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the BMC on Tuesday postponed the reopening of schools for classes I to VII to December 15. Schools were previously scheduled to reopen on December 1. The B.1.1.529 Covid-19 variant or Omicron, first detected in South Africa last week, has been designated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a “variant of concern”. “Experts across the globe are cautious about the new variant and its exact nature will be known in the next few days. To ensure the safe return of students to school, BMC has decided to defer the decision of opening schools for standards I to VII by 14 days. Schools will open from December 15,” read the order issued by BMC. The civic body added that considering the international connectivity and population of Mumbai, the health department, the state government and BMC are taking appropriate measures and precautions. “We are taking a cautious approach regarding reopening of schools. WHO has designated Omicron as a ‘variant of concern’ and the BMC's health department is also on high alert. Twelve countries have been listed as ‘at risk’, and Mumbai sees a high footfall of international travellers. Keeping these developments in mind, we have postponed the reopening of schools,” said Raju Tadvi, BMC Education Officer. The civic body further said the school administration will require time to disinfect its premises, shift vaccination centres to new locations, issue purchase orders for masks, distribute the same to students and get parents' consent for their children to attend in-person classes. The BMC education department has asked schools to finish all preparations in the next 14 days and submit a report. Classes VIII to XII are being conducted in-person since October 4 in Mumbai. Last week, the state Cabinet had decided to reopen all classes in the physical mode. The state government on Monday had issued standard operating procedures to be followed by schools and parents when schools for classes I to VII in urban centres and classes I to IV in rural areas were to reopen from December 1. The guidelines mandated teachers and school staff, including bus drivers and volunteers, to be fully vaccinated. As per BMC data, staff strength of the BMC education department and civic-run schools, including teachers, is 60,000. Of them, 82 per cent are fully vaccinated. There are 10.5 lakh students in classes I to VII in 3,420 civic-run and private schools in Mumbai. Among them, 2.92 lakh are in civic-run schools.
