Maharashtra has been the hotspot for COVID 19 cases in India, with Mumbai holding more positive cases than any state in the country (at 14,700 cases at the time of writing). With the on-going struggle of the government officials to curb the spread of SARS-COV-2 in containment areas, speculations have arisen that schools and colleges in the state may not open till August or September looking at the pace of the COVID cases rising.
This speculation has caused anxiety amongst parents and students alike, since it will put schools and colleges on a backfoot in the completion of their syllabus. Till this year, colleges, coaching institutes and schools used to complete their syllabus by October end, and then proceed to test students with multiple examination sets to make children more equiped in handling their boards; they had 10-12 months to complete the syllabus. However, this year the projection of schools and colleges opening in August/September has left parents scratching their heads, since this leaves students with only 8-9 months to study for their board examinations.
The only alternative considered viable by parents is that the state government cuts down on their syllabus so that it becomes easier for educational institutes to cope with the loss of half an academic year. At present, the CBSE is said to be considering this decision and Karnataka government has already announced syllabus cuts for this academic year.
Students have made multiple requests to the state government regarding the same, but haven’t been able to get in touch with the authorities.
