Expecting Winter Vacation? Here Are States Keeping Schools Open

Some states have resumed classes in October with a view to help board student cope up with their syllabus. Here are states that have cancelled winter holidays to complete the board syllabus.

Students waiting for school bus | PTI File image

It is that time of the year when schools usually announce winter vacations for Christmas and New Year. However, this year has been a different one with schools remaining closed for almost seven months due to Covid-19 pandemic. The unprecedented conditions impacted students of almost every class. While some states resumed classes for board appearing students in October, with a view to help them cope up with their syllabus. On the other hand, now some states have cancelled winter vacations in order to finish syllabus. Here are states that have cancelled winter vacations Uttrakhand: The Uttarakhand Education Department has decided to cancel the winter vacation for students of class 10 and 12. The decision has been taken to ensure that students are prepared ahead of their board exams. The order was issued on December 24 and stated that the teachers of classes 10 and 12 will be present in schools for classes, as per the news agency ANI. However, teachers of other classes need not attend schools. But the district magistrate can also take a call on the school’s closure depending on the weather conditions. This order is applicable to the state government and government aided-schools only. The Uttarakhand government opened the schools for classes 10 and 12 on November 2 with all the necessary Covid-19 guidelines. READ: Covid-19, schools winter vacation, Class 10, 12 board exams Madhya Pradesh: The winter holidays for all government schools in Madhya Pradesh has been cancelled, the state school education department said in a statement on December 23. Winter vacation was earlier scheduled from December 26 to 31. The school department feels this time can be utilised by students to communicate with teachers and clear their doubts. The teaching staff has been asked to continue with the classes and make up for the lost time due to Covid-19 lockdown across the country. The government reopened schools from December 18 for classes X and XII to ensure students prepare well for the 2021 board exams. Uttar Pradesh: The Uttar Pradesh government led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath issued a notification stating that the primary school teachers in state government school won’t get winter vacation this session, but will get the winter break from the next session, i.e. 2021-22. The schools in Uttar Pradesh resumed in October following strict COVID-19 protocol including limiting attendance in the classes to 50 per cent per day. As per the instructions, schools outside the containment zones were allowed to reopen from October 19 for students of class 9th to 12th, where it was mandatory for each student to go to school only with parental consent. Nagaland: The Department of School Education announced that all schools in Nagaland under the department has cancelled winter vacation for this year. It is informed that the schools should be closed from 23 December 2020 to January 3 ,2021 due to Christmas and New Year holidays and to be resumed from January 4 , 2021. Meanwhile the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) issued fresh orders allowing private and public schools in city area to reopen from January 4 for class 9 to 12. In its earlier order the schools were barred from reopening till January in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. Pune municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar issued the orders allowing schools as well as school bus service to resume operations in the city from January 4. According to the order, students in class 9-12 will have to attend the classes in person.