States Can Decide On School Reopening: Centre

New Delhi: Noting a contraction in the third wave of Covid 19 and consistent decline in new cases over 14 days, the government on Thursday said it was up to the states and district administrations to decide on reopening of schools, while following the guidelines issued by the education ministry earlier. “Overall there is a contraction in the spread of the infection which is heartening. There are 268 districts in India with under 5 per cent positivity. These can now move in the direction of non Covid care, school opening and other activities. Declining trend of pandemic allows us to think of these options,” Member, Health NITI Aayog, VK Paul said. He said the overall decision on opening schools rests with state governments and further down to district administrations. “The broad issue is that we would like to ensure