Can consider reopening schools for primary classes if…: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, `If other COVID variants don`t hit West Bengal, then we can think of reopening schools for primary classes on alternate days.`

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday (February 10) said that the government will consider reopening primary schools subject to a rider. 

“If other COVID variants don't hit West Bengal, then we can think of reopening schools for primary classes on alternate days,” ANI quoted the Bengal CM as saying. 

Earlier, the state government had reopened physical classes for standard 8 to 12 from February 3. "Covid-19 situation in Bengal has improved. Schools will reopen on February 3 for classes 8 to 12. Colleges, universities, polytechnics and ITIs will also restart offline classes on the same day. We are not reopening primary schools right now," the West Bengal CM had announced. 

The government had also issued notification for holding open-air learning sessions from pre-primary level up to class seven in every locality from February 7 in wake of the Covid-19 situation. 

On Wednesday, West Bengal reported 884 new Covid-19 cases, which pushed the total tall in the state to 20,08,133, the health department said in its bulletin.

With 28 new fatalities reported in the last 24 hours, the death toll climbed to 20,912. The state had recorded 736 new cases and 32 more deaths a day before.

The positivity rate increased slightly to 1.89 per cent on Wednesday. 

(With agency inputs)