Maharashtra Board students protest outside Varsha Gaikwad's house demanding online exams

Several students protested on Monday near the residence of Maharashtra school education minister Varsha Gaikwad in Mumbai demanding that offline exams for classes X to XII be canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic.The protest took place in Ashok Mill Naka in Dharavi and police had to resort to a mild baton charge to stop them from moving towards the minister's residence in the vicinity, an official said.The students, who had assembled from areas like Thane and Nashik besides the metropolis on the basis of information shared on social media, did not have permission for the protest, the police official added."No student was injured in the lathicharge. Some of them were brought to the local police station and released soon after," he said.

Last week, Gaikwad had announced that Schools in Maharashtra for classes 1 to 12 will reopen from January 24.“Written instructions on this will be issued either today or tomorrow. Our SOPs are very strict and clear. We have given four days advance notice to the management of schools to undertake vaccination and sanitisation and for preparation of time-table. The timing and other necessary decisions will be taken by the local authorities, such as district collector or municipal commissioner based on the local situations,” Gaikwad added. arlier on January 8, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government had ordered the closure of schools in the wake of the rising number of Covid cases in the state. The government had directed schools to suspend normal classes till the cases are not stabilising. In Mumbai, the local civic body had announced the closure of schools for Classes 1 to 9 till January 31.