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The Calcutta High Court bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice R Bharadwaj disposed of a PIL challenging the West Bengal government's decision to reopen schools for Classes 9 to 12 from November 16.

The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and the West Bengal Council for Higher Secondary Examination, in simultaneous notifications, recommended reopening of schools for students of Classes 9 to 12 from November 16 with certain guidelines on maintenance of Covid-19 protocols.

According to the notification of the state government, classes of 9 and 11 classes will be held from 9.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. and Classes 10 and 12 from 10.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.

The PIL has been filed by lawyer Sudip Ghosh Chowdhury. He has submitted to the court that the state is opening the school in the Corona situation sans any specific plan for health security. In this condition, if the students go to school, there is a possibility of corona infection. He also demanded the formation of an expert committee on the issue. It has also been contended that most of the students from class IX to XII are below 18 years of age. As a result, they have not yet been vaccinated, making them prone to contract and suffer from Covid-19.

Observing that the petitioner is not affected by the decision the bench said that parents or students may approach authorities if they have any issue over recommencement of on-campus classes.