Thiruvananthapuram: Schools that had been shut for over one-and-a-half years will reopen in the state in the first phase on Monday (November 1).

The state-level Praveshanolsavam, school-reopening ceremony, will be held at the Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Cottonhill, in Thiruvananthapuram at 8:30am adhering to COVID-19 protocols. Ministers will also take part in the school reopening function. Praveshanolsavam will also be held at all schools across the state.

Students in classes 1 to 7, and class 10 and plus-two will return to the school campus on Monday in the first phase. Offline classes for students in classes 8, 9, and 11 will start on November 15.

"A total of 42,65,273 students are expected to return to the schools in the two phases," General Education Minister V Sivankutty said.

The digital classes, via the KITE Victers channel, will be held till November 12, as per the revised schedule.

All class 10 students have been given login id for online classes via the G-Suite platform. Login id will be given to around 8.6 lakh students in classes 8 and 9 by November first week.

Precautions in place

Earlier this month, the state government had given details of the preparations made by it to safeguard children from getting infected, once schools reopen.

The preparations included cleaning and disinfecting places where children throng and strictly implementing the bio-bubble system.

School authorities have been directed to prepare mid-day meal for children and distribute them adhering to COVID protocol besides ensuring them the service of a doctor, the Education department had said.

Along with soap and sanitiser, thermal scanner to examine the body temperature of children, teachers and non-teaching staff would also be arranged in each school.

2,609 teaching & non-teaching staff not vaccinated

A total of 2,609 teaching and non-teaching staff have not taken the Covid vaccine even as schools are set to reopen on Monday, according to Minister Sivankutty. Among them, 2282 are teachers while the remaining 327 are non-teaching staff.

"They cite allergy, health issues or religious reasons for not taking the vaccine. The government is not issuing a special order for making vaccines mandatory. They need not come to school for two weeks. Instead, they can take online classes," he added.

First Bell classes on Victers channel | Check out the new schedule

Along with the physical classes at schools that are set to reopen on Monday, the First Bell classes via the KITE Victers channel and online classes through the G-Suite platform will also be available for students.

The schedule for digital classes till November 12 has been revised.

From Monday till November 12, the First Bell classes for plus-two will be telecast from 8am to 11am. The classes will be re-telecast from 7.30pm to 10.30pm. 

The pre-primary classes christened 'Kilikonchal' will be telecast at 11am, two classes for students in eighth standard from 11.30 am, and three classes for students in the ninth standard from 12.30pm. Classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 will be telecast at 2pm, 2.30pm, 3pm, 3.30pm, 4pm, 4.30pm, and 5pm, respectively. 

Class 10 telecast will be from 5.30pm to 7pm. The three classes for 10th standard will be re-telecast from 6.30am the next day. All classes will be re-telecasted on KITE Victers Plus the next day. On Victers Plus, the telecast for class 10 will be from 8am to 9.30am the next day, plus-two from 3.30pm to 6.30pm. Classes for the 8th and 9th standard will be telecast at 1pm and 2pm respectively. Classes from 1 to 7 will be re-telecast from 9.30am to 12.30pm continuously on the second channel. 

Online classes

The online classes for the 10th standard are currently being held through the G-Suite platform. All students in class 10 have been given login id. Around 8.6 lakh students in classes 8 and 9 will also be given login id by November first week and online classes will be started. Online classes for plus-two students will also be started between November 9 to 12.