Fueled by health concerns amid the spread of the virus, school attendance in these seven states and J&K was very poor on the first day. The other states have yet to decide on a date to resume the institutes, Delhi being one of them.
In Assam, teachers felt that the situation on the ground was not very convincing. K Chanda, principal of South Point School in Guwahati, said that less than 10 percent of students in classes IX and XII attended the school. “A lot of guardians wanted to see the answer on the first day,” he said. “Online classes are up and running, so why take the risk?” Said Atanu Chakraborty, a student in Class XII at Railway Higher Secondary School, Maligaon, Assam.
With the increase in Covid-19 infections, the same happened in Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, J&K, Haryana, Himachal and Nagaland, where schools were resumed.
“My parents let me go to school when I insisted. But I came back from the gates when I couldn’t find any of my friends, ”said Abhishek Agarwal, who studies at a private school in Bhopal.
A Madhu Babu, an English teacher at ZP High School in Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh, said they discussed various components of Covid-19 precautions during meeting with parents on Monday. However, attendance remained low in the state’s public and private schools.
Many governments have yet to make a decision. While the Gujarat government decided not to reopen schools from September 21 “in the interest of the students” at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on September 16, the Uttar Pradesh government will review the situation and will make a decision about it. matter before September 30. He has asked education department officials to start awareness campaigns on social distancing and Covid-19 protocols in schools and to take the pulse of all stakeholders on the resumption of regular classes after September 30.
“There is a risk of transmission of the virus if students gather in one place. It is not recommended for students to attend school in the current situation, “Gujarat Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said, saying the decision will be made once the situation improves.
UP deputy CM Dinesh Sharma, who is also the minister of secondary and higher education, said: “The safety of the students cannot be compromised.”
“Even if schools reopen, students should have the option of online and offline classes, so that social distancing is easier in classrooms,” said Piyush Pant, a student in class XI at Spring Dale College. in Lucknow.
States such as Maharashtra, Goa, Jharkhand, Telangana, Karnataka, Odisha, Bihar, Rajasthan, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are also undecided on a date, as many of them are still consulting stakeholders.
Maharashtra’s Minister of School Education Varsha Gaikwad recently held a virtual meeting with stakeholders from across the state to seek input. During the meeting, most of the participants said they were not ready to start physical classes yet.
While Bihar’s Chief Secretary (Education) Sanjay Kumar called a meeting on Tuesday to discuss a likely date for the reopening and how, Goa’s Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who is also the Minister of Education, has announced that with cases on the rise in the state, a decision would be made before October 2.
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