Primary school in Mumbai to be shut for Census-II

The civic body has cleared up all confusions pertaining to the phase II of the census exercise. It will be a 23-day mini holiday for the students studying in primary schools.

In a bid to not to disrupt the schools the BMC has announced closure of primary scho-ols from February 14 to March 5.

“Census is a national exercise. To ensure its smooth functioning and not to put the education process at stake, primary schools will be shut,” said civic chief Subodh Kumar on Friday.

The phase II of census will commence from February 9. Out of the 23,000 personnel involved in the enumeration and population registry process 13,000 will be the civic officials. A major chunk of the enumerators are teachers and school staff.

To cause minimum effect to young toddlers only teachers imparting education in primary classes are included in the exercise.

Around 7,000 teachers will be on duty during the second phase, said Manisha Mhaiskar, additional municipal commissioner. The first phase of census which ended in June comprised of house listing.

“The second phase will focus on counting the homeless and will include personal details, including marital status, mother tongue, place of birth, work, education, caste and migration,” she added.

The city has around 1,300 primary schools under the BMC, which also includes the government aided schools.