Indian schools in Oman plan phased return to campus

Muscat: Indian schools in Oman have drawn up plans for students across different grades to return to classrooms in stages, instead of all at once.

An official of the Board of Directors of Indian Schools in Oman added that the principals of the 21 Indian Schools are expected to hand in their plans for students’ return to classrooms in the next few days, after which the board will take a vote, and submit their proposal to the Ministry of Education, which needs to approve all back-to-school learning efforts.

“We are expecting to take a decision on this as soon as possible,” said the board official.

“The ministry has a framework and guidelines that need to be followed for the reopening of schools. That has been circulated to principals, who are preparing a plan accordingly.  We are collecting them, and maybe, within a week, we will have some updates on the same,” he added. “In a few days, we will have clarity over what to do next. Our principals all recommend a phase-wise opening rather than opening everything all at once.”

The plans, added the board official, are based on current student strength, and school infrastructure capabilities over offering blended learning.

“We had a number of parents and students who until recently could not come back from India because of the entry restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but now that most of them have returned, we are finishing up the details of our plans and will verify them soon,” he said.