The class work for primary schools resumed in Kashmir on Monday following a yearlong closure due to COVID-19 lockdown, officials said.
While the secondary and higher secondary classes resumed on March 8 and March 1 respectively, the primary classes reopened today after a week’s deferral in view of the incidence of COVID-19 cases among staffers, who joined the institutions early in the fresh academic session.
The schools, which have remained largely closed due to the lockdown after the abrogation of article 370 in August 2019 and last year’s COVID-19 lockdown, were scheduled to resume classes for KG to 8th standard on March 8.
However, the resumption of classes for KG to fifth standard was delayed by a week after staffers at a few schools tested positive for COVID-19. The institutions resumed class work for classes 9-12 on March 1 itself.
On Monday, the institutions finally resumed class work for the lower primary classes while ensuring a staggered attendance of students to maintain social distancing for containing disease spread.
The staff at the schools was seen distributing face masks and hand sanitizers among the students following strict directions by the School Education Department.
While some schools have adopted an odd-even scheme in terms of roll numbers, some institutions reportedly have altogether deferred class work for now.