Gehlot govt faces stiff opp over Aug 2 school reopening decision

Jaipur, July 24 (IANS) Barely 24 hours after state Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasara announced the re-opening of all schools in Rajasthan for all classes from August 2, the state government appears to be on the back foot over the decision.Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday night chaired a meeting in which the decision to float a committee was taken as parents in the state have outright rejected the idea of school reopening from next month for all classes.The social media has been abuzz since Friday with 'NoVaccineNoSchool' campaigns and the state government has been accused of cowering under pressure from private schools for the sake of collection of complete fees.The committee formed include Dotasara, Health Minister Raghu Sharma, Agriculture Minister Lalchand Katariya, Higher Education Minister Bhanwar Singh Bhati and Technical Education Minister Subhash Garg.Dotasara on Thursday night announced the re-opening of schools from August 2 for all classes after a cabinet meeting.Sources said that Gehlot questioned Dotasara as to why he made such an announcement about the schools opening when there was no consensus made on dates to reopen school in the Thursday cabinet meeting.Medical experts said that the schools should be opened only after the entire school staff, including those from transport department has been vaccinated.
--IANS arc/in