Photos: India schools reopen with strict COVID rules

Students arrive to attend classes at a school that was reopened after further ease in COVID-19 restrictions, in, Moradabad. More students in India will be able to step inside a classroom for the first time in nearly 18 months, as authorities have given the green light to partially reopen more schools despite apprehension from some parents and signs that infections are picking up again.

Schools and colleges in at least six more states are reopening in a gradual manner with health measures in place throughout September. In New Delhi, all staff must be vaccinated and class sizes will be capped at 50% with staggered seating and sanitized desks. Above, students wearing face masks attend prayer in a class at a school that was reopened in Jabalpur.

A staff helps students with hand sanitisers as they arrive at a school in Allahabad after the state government relaxed the COVID-19 lockdown norms for educational institutions, allowing students from 1st-5th standard to attend physical classes with 50 percent capacity and following all safety protocols against the pandemic.

Life has been slowly returning to normal in India after the trauma of a ferocious coronavirus surge earlier this year ground life in the country to a halt, sickened tens of millions, and left hundreds of thousands dead.

Students perform physical activities as schools reopen for classes 9th to 12th, in Delhi.

Students being welcomed by teachers as they arrive to attend the classes in Lucknow.

A number of states returned last month to in person learning for some age groups. Daily new infections have fallen sharply since their peak of more than 400,000 in May. But on Saturday, India recorded 46,000 new cases, the highest in nearly two months.

Online education remains a privilege in India, where only one in four children have access to the internet and digital devices, according to UNICEF. The virtual classroom has deepened existing inequities, marking the haves from the have-nots, said Shavati Sharma Kukreja of Central Square Foundation, an education non-profit.

``While kids with access to smartphones and laptops have continued their learning with minimal disruption, those less privileged have effectively lost over a year of education,'' she said.

Students use umbrellas to shelter from a downpour while they arrive at Sarvodya Co-Education senior secondary school in New Delhi.

Students sanitise their hands as they enter a school after the Tamil Nadu government allowed schools to reopen for classes IXth to XIIth, in Thoothukudi.

A Student undergoes thermal screening as he arrives to attend class in Lucknow.