Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today proposed reopening primary schools with 50 per cent students on alternate days if any other Covid variant of concern doesn’t hit West Bengal.

“After waiting for a few days if we find that the other Covid variant doesn’t hit us then we can think of resuming primary classes (I to IV). The classes for primary students can be started with 50 per cent attendance. We have to talk to the schools about holding the classes on alternate days. For instance, students who come to school on Monday would skip on Tuesday while those who come on Tuesday will skip on Wednesday,” said Miss Banerjee at a programme to hand over title deeds to 2000 refugee families at Netaji Indoor Stadium.

Miss Banerjee said that the Paray Shikshalaya, an open-air classroom in the neighbourhood programme that is being held for students from V to VII will continue. Schools for classes VIII to XII have resumed from 3 February. Miss Banerjee’s proposal to reopen primary schools came a day after Nobel laureate Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee said that schools for all classes should be reopened immediately while launching the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER, West Bengal).

The report stated that 27.7 per cent of children in Class III could read Class II-level texts, compared to 36.6 per cent in 2018 and 32.9 per cent in 2014. It further stated that about 48 per cent of students in Class V can read Class-II level texts, lower than the 50.5-per cent figure in 2018, 50.2 per cent in 2016 and 51.8 per cent in 2014.

Miss Banerjee today hit out at the Uttar Pradesh government for telling lies over the centrally sponsored housing scheme. “West Bengal ranks first in the Banglar Bari scheme. In Uttar Pradesh, I recently heard they were publicising that 41 lakh houses have been constructed under the housing scheme. I asked them what was their population and they said it was 24 crore. In Bengal, our population is 11 crore but we have already constructed 45 lakh houses and another 2.5 lakh houses have been sanctioned. This means we have constructed double the number of houses. They are just telling big lies but the evidence speaks everything,” she said.

She further added that the money that the Centre gives to BJP-run states like UP is much more than that which is given to Bengal. “The money that the Centre gives us is not BJP’s but it is people’s money,” she said. Miss Banerjee slammed the BJP for atrocities against the women, Adivasis and other backward classes as well as destroying the heritage and history of the country.

She said: “They are doing whatever they want. They are changing history and bulldozing our heritage. Our farmers are not getting the minimum support prices for their produce while the unemployment rate is increasing. They are selling everything from rail to SAIL. Where is the money collected for the PM Cares Fund?” She also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for putting his picture on vaccine certificates.

Meanwhile, while handing over title deeds to refugee families, Miss Banerjee said 261 refugee colonies have been regularised and the state government is against the eviction of refugees. She assured that matuas, with whom many have done politics, will also get title deeds.

CM meets Adani: Ahead of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) in April, chief minister Mamata Banerjee today met industrialist Gautam Adani’s son Karan Adani, CEO of Adani Ports at Nabanna state secretariat. Earlier, in December, Mr Gautam Adani had called upon Miss Banerjee and expressed interest in investing in West Bengal. He had also said that he was looking ahead to attend the business summit in Kolkata. It may be mentioned here that the Adani Group has evinced interest in developing flagship project ~ the Tajpur greenfield sea port in East Midnapore. According to sources, today’s meeting revolved around this along with various other areas having investment potential in the state.