The government’s decision to close schools has come in for sharp criticism from the private school managements and teachers apart from teachers organisations, who said the decision would impact schoolchildren and damage their learning capabilities.

The Telangana Recognised Schools Management Association (TRSMA) honorary president, S Sreenivas Reddy said it was unfair to close down the schools when children were getting back into the academic groove. He said it was ridiculous to argue that schools were spreading COVID when bars, cinema halls, malls and other business establishments where thousands gather were open.

Thousands gathered for political programmes in the recently concluded Graduate MLC elections violating all COVID-19 norms but the government was not bothered but a few cases in schools have bothered them, he argued. He alleged that the government opened the schools earlier for political benefit in the MLC elections.

When schools from class I to X were being run successfully in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, why is the Telangana government has hurried to close them down, he asked.

The TS United Teachers Federation (TS-UTF) Secretary Chava Ravi also opposed the closure of schools without taking teachers and parents into confidence. He said there are 10,000 high schools in Telangana including 4,600 in the government sector but just a few hundreds of students have been affected in about 10 schools.

He said instead of closing the schools the government should have ensured strict implementation of COVID- 19 protocols. The closure has put the entire academic system in a dilemma and this decision was taken in haste, he felt.