Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 24 (PTI) The Kerala government on Friday issued draft guidelines for the reopening of schools in the state which includes allowing only two students to sit in a bench and scrapping of mid-day meals for children.

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General Education Minister V Sivankutty said the draft guidelines will be finalised within five days after holding discussions with health and other concerned departments.

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"The draft guidelines include allowing only two students on a bench and scrapping of mid-day meals. Instead mid-day meals allowance will be given to the students. The body temperature of the students will be regularly measured. Gatherings will not be allowed," the minister told the media here.

He also said that online classes would continue along with offline classes.

Sivankutty said differently abled students need not attend the schools in the initial phase and online awareness classes will be held for the parents of the children.

The minister added that hand washing facilities, sanitisers and masks would be arranged in the schools and the classes sanitised every day.

The government also has plans to issue directions not to allow eateries including bakeries near schools to sell items to the students.

Meanwhile, state police chief Anil Kant issued directions to all Station House Officers (SHOs) to convene a meeting of the head of institution and school managements under their jurisdictions to discuss the safety and health matters of the students.

The DGP asked the SHOs to ensure that the school buses are in good condition and ask the school management to complete the repairs by October 20.

The direction also includes allowing only people with over ten years of experience to drive the school buses and to install speed governors.

After being closed since March last year, the Kerala government last week decided to reopen the schools from November 1.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)