The government schools in Uttar Pradesh are gearing up to receive children from March 1 following a directive issued by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in this regard.

The chief minister has ordered reopening of council schools for classes 1 to 5.

Preparations are going on in full swing to decorate schools with colourful balloons, flowers and festoons to welcome students on the first day of the reopening of the schools following a year-long break due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Basic Education Department of the state has been directed to prepare schools and create an environment that would reinvigorate students to pursue their studies.

Students who have been away from schools for about a year and have been attending online classes during this period can expect many surprises when they revisit their schools. Apart from finding colourful decorations of the classes and gates, they will also get Covid vaccine shots.

According to Lucknow's Basic Shiksha Adhikari Dinesh Kumar, teachers have been instructed to decorate schools in order to create a festive atmosphere so that children do not hesitate to re-enter school premises after a long gap.

Drinking water will be made available for schoolchildren. The schools are making arrangements for providing safe running drinking water for children. The schools have been directed to install submersible pumps for the purpose.

Informed sources said that teachers would have to make arrangements for drinking water facilities through the composite grant provided to them.

Besides, the schools will also have separate toilets for girls.

It is worth mentioning that over 1.83 crore students study in 1.5 lakh schools run by the Basic Education Department in UP. Over one lakh schools have undergone transformation during COVID-19 pandemic on the initiative of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Schools have been decorated with colourful paintings and meaningful slogans. The schools have also been equipped with facilities for Smart Class and libraries. In Lucknow alone, over 100 schools have the Smart Classes facility.