Pune: The school was closed from last 10 months. Though we were attending classes online it was boring and we didn’t understand that much. It feels good to be back to school,” expressed Anjali Pawar, a student of the fifth class.

Amid coronavirus crisis, many states in the country now have started reopening the schools. Schools in Pune, once the hotspot of COVID-19 has reopened the schools for classes 5 to 8 with all COVID-19 restrictions in the place. After 10 months, schools for Classes 5 to 8 reopened on Monday. The schools in the city have started phase-wise reopening.

Students at multiple schools on Monday were happy to be back again on the school’s premises. Students were seen wearing face masks and following the COVID-19 protocols. However, many major schools in the city are still prepping up for physical classes.

Though the first day of reopening of schools witnessed little attendance, officials say that parents’ consent of sending their children for classes 5 to 8 if is increased, attendance will back to normal. After the inspection, 398 schools from 950 in the municipal corporation were permitted to reopen on Monday. Rest of the schools will resume after permission is given to them this week, informed officials.

Rohidas Bharmal, Principal of Bhave Highschool said, “On the first day itself, we recorded 50 per cent of attendance. We are following COVID-19 precautions thoroughly in the school. We have already assured parents about the precautions of the students in the premises, thus parents are also giving consent of sending their kids to school.”