A purported screenshot of a news channel claiming that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has given permission to States to open schools is being shared widely on social media. But FACTLY has found that MHA has not granted permission to States to open schools. No such order was found on the MHA website. On 17 May 2020, an order was issued extending the lockdown throughout the country till 31 May 2020. In the order, it can be read that ‘Schools, colleges, educational/training/coaching institutions, etc. will remain closed. Online/distance learning shall be encouraged’. No amendment with regards to educational institutions was made in the further orders, till today (i.e. 28 May 2020), except that an exception was made from the existing lockdown measures to conduct Class 10th and 12th Board examinations.
Also, both the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Press Information Bureau have clarified that no such decision has been taken by MHA, and all educational institutions are still prohibited to open, throughout the country.
While the telecast video of the news on the ‘India न्यूज़’ channel was not found, a tweet with the same text was found to be tweeted by ‘India News UP/UK’ on 20 May 2020.
Sources:
Claim – Facebook post (archived)
Fact –
1. MHA Spokesperson tweet – https://twitter.com/PIBHomeAffairs/status/1265331467615420423
2. PIB Facebook post – https://www.facebook.com/103560537843715/posts/161138172085951
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