Kolkata:The Calcutta High Court, on Thursday, dismissed the petition filed against the decision of the state government to open schools in the state from November 16, 2021.
The High Court ruled that there is no necessity to give any direction on the PIL and hence the plea has been dismissed. With this development, decks are cleared for the reopening of the schools in the state.
The PIL, it was alleged that the state government announced its decision to reopen schools without proper planning. Petitioner Sudip Ghosh Chowdhury, a lawyer by profession, in his petition, argued that the state government is trying to open schools from Classes 9 to 12 without any plan. The petitioner alleged that in the schools it will not be possible to maintain social distancing norms. The petitioner also appealed to the court to review the situation for the interest of the students.
Also Read:West Bengal schools, colleges to reopen on November 16
The chief justice of the Calcutta High Court, Justice Prakash Srivastav, observed that if the students face problems then their guardians will have the liberty to move the court. He also questioned why the petitioner was so excited about this issue. According to him, "the PIL does not have any merit."
The state’s advocate general, Soumendra Bandopadhyay argued that during the lockdown phase the worst affected were the students and according to several surveys their learning capabilities also got affected. “So the state government has extended the school hours to avoid many students coming to schools at a time. Online classes could not be conducted in many rural areas. Schools have reopened in several other states. Such PIL’s are hence not at all desirable,” he argued. He also said that online classes are aggravating the disparity in the education system. During the pandemic, all schools in the state were closed for almost for two years. The participation of students in online classes had been negligible.
According to the notification issued by the state government, Classes 9 and 11 will be held from 9. 30 am till 3.30 pm whereas Classes 10 and 12 will start from 10.30 am to 4.30 pm. Earlier, the West Bengal School Education Department has sanctioned a total of Rs 109 crore for cleaning and sanitising the state-run and aided schools.
