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This is an archive article published on January 3, 2021

PCMC to reopen civic schools Monday amid opposition by corporators

The PCMC commissioner said they will observe the situation for a week before starting a review

PCMC to reopen civic schools today amid opposition by corporatorsThere are 282 schools in Pimpri-Chinchwad. (File photo)

Although schools are set to reopen on Monday, corporators have raised objections to the move and criticized the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) for trying to “jeopardize the life of teachers and students”.

BJP corporator Seema Savale, a former standing committee chairperson, wrote to PCMC commissioner Shravan Hardikar, saying: “When vaccine distribution is round the corner, what is the need to start the schools and jeopardize the life of teachers and students? The PCMC could have waited till the month end and started the schools in February.”

Savale objected the idea of reopening schools during the winter. “Most schools are run in the morning hours. Students and teachers have to set out from home as early as 6am. Besides, children are crammed in school vehicles. In chilly conditions, there is a possibility of them catching cold which in the time of corona could prove dangerous to their health. The PCMC has not issued any guidelines for schools to start around 9 or 10 am,” she told The Indian Express.

Stating that the PCMC should be held responsible if Covid-19 cases start rising again, Savale added: “The BMC and the Thane civic bodies have postponed reopening of schools. The PCMC could have easily done that. I don’t understand when the civic administration has so far done a good job, why does it want to spoil its record when cases are decreasing?”

Another corporator, Aasha Shendge, said: “The PCMC will have to closely monitor the functioning of schools and ensure students and teachers get quick medical attention, if needed. This will put additional pressure on the already stressed civic machinery.”

Hardikar said, “We are starting the civic schools that have been closed for nine months and couldn’t even hold online classes.”

As for private schools, Hardikar, added: “They will have to take parents’ consent and conduct RT-PCR tests of teachers. Only then they can reopen. I don’t think it’s immediately possible.”

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The PCMC commissioner said they will observe the situation for a week before starting a review.

On whether his administration has directed schools to start late in the morning, Hardikar said: “We have not given any directions. The schools will have to take their calls.”

Mrudula Mahajan, principal of Dr DY Patil Public School, Pimpri, said: “We will not start on Monday. It will take two or three days’ time for us to reopen the school after the teachers undergo Covid-19 tests.”

Mahajan added that they are considering starting schools from 9 or 10 am in view of the cold and the pandemic. “The schools will function for four hours. One bench will be allotted to one student to ensure social distancing,” she said.

In total, there are 282 schools in Pimpri-Chinchwad.

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Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More


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