The schools for students of class VI onwards in Uttarakhand could open from February 1. The education department has decided to put up a proposal for opening of the schools in the upcoming cabinet meeting. The department has suggested that the schools for students of class VI and above can open from February 1. The schools in Uttarakhand were opened for students of classes XI and XII in November last year. It is pertinent to mention here that the schools in Uttarakhand were closed to prevent the students from the pandemic of Covid-19 in the month of March last year.

Discussions on opening of schools and other issues were held in a meeting of a high level meeting of the education department at the state secretariat on Monday. The meeting was presided over by the education minister Arvind Pandey.  In the meeting the education minister directed the department to expedite the process of recruitment of primary school teachers and lecturers. It was also decided that the candidates who had done the Diploma in Elementary Education (D El Ed) from the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) would not be declared eligible for recruitment on the post of primary teachers in the government schools. The minister also directed the department to appoint headmasters in all the schools before the start of new session. On the Atal Utkarsh Schools the minister said that separate meetings with the principals of these schools should be convened. The Trivendra Singh Rawat government has decided to open two schools in every block as Atal Utkarash Schools.  On the issue of increasing the stipend of the guest teachers, the minister said that a proposal should be prepared by the department on it. It was decided to create a post of lecturer Physical education in the schools of the state. In a major decision the minister said that all teachers would now be eligible for the ‘session end benefit’, under it the teachers are given extension in superannuation date till the end of the academic session so that the studies are not affected.