Panaji, Sept 17 (PTI) Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday ruled out reopening of schools in the state before October 2.

The government will review the coronavirus situation on October 2 after consulting the stakeholders before deciding to open the schools, he said.

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Schools will be opened in a staggered manner with std X, XII resuming first, he added.

The Chief Minister was talking to reporters after holding discussions with officials of the Education Department, representatives of principals, Parent Teachers Associations and others on the issue.

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The government does not want to restart schools against the wishes of parents, he said.

The reopening of schools has been put off till October 2 due to a rise in COVID-19 cases in the state, he said.

He also said that in the meantime online classes will continue. Goa is the only state which has trained all its teachers in how to conduct online classes, he said.

(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)