Catch 2020: In a year with no parallel, reopening of schools poses a dilemma

New Delhi: In March, when an unchronicled viral disease reached India, most state governments took quick steps to close the school to prevent infection. The lockdown prolonged the closure. The decision to shut educational institutions was easy, but re-opening them has proved doubly tough. With parents firm about the guaranteed safety of their children, all that the authorities have been able to do is to wait and watch.

While many schools cautiously reopened for classes IX to XII elsewhere, admittedly with less than enthusiastic attendance, Delhi government decided to prolong the shutdown. Educators, though, wonder about the closure affecting the academic and mental wellbeing of children.

Madhulika Sen, former principal, Tagore International School, and now an education advisor, said, “We could take cues from other states that have allowed reopening. But given Delhi’s Covid situation, I don’t think classes can resume in October. While students in classes X and XII will have completed their syllabus by November, starting the junior classes then looks difficult. But we could begin with classes VI-VIII, IX and XI, that too in different time slots.”

United Nations information showed that by mid-April 2020, 94% of learners worldwide, or 1.6 billion youngsters from pre-primary to higher education, were affected by the pandemic and school closure in 200 countries. In August, according to UNICEF, 105 of the 134 countries that had closed schools allowed them to reopen or decided on a reopening date. Denmark, which did not have too many Covid cases, resumed schools in April with unmasked students in micro groups. South Korea permitted school to start but had to close them again.

SK Bhattacharya, chairman of the Action Committee, an association of private unaided schools in Delhi, said, “We are in the third half of the academic session. How long can schools remain closed? We should use the time to redesign the classroom for reopening, plan teacher-student ratio, decide whether to run school buses.”

Bhattacharya added, “If the government sticks to its order on reopening schools after October 5, it will be welcomed by private schools. Online classes have their limitations. Students of the 2020-21 batch are suffering not only academically, but also psychologically with doubts about their future and career.”

Suruchi Gandhi, principal, Bal Bharti School, Dwarka, was worried about how the closure would impact the inculcation of life skills. “We don’t know when the vaccine will be ready. Studies are going on through online classes, but the kids are not getting a chance to learn life skills. Primary children are missing out on personal interaction, and that worries me a lot,” she fretted.

The education boards would have to rethink the syllabus, said Shailendra Sharma, advisor to the director of education, Delhi. “We hope this year will be treated as a special year for assessment purposes. CBSE reduced the syllabus in the expectation that schools would reopen by July,” he said. “Online classes for XI and XII have nearly 90% attendance. Up to Class X, we have 80% of the students closely engaged.”

However, parents are not eager about schools reopening. When the Directorate of Education asked schools to seek the parents’ opinion on the central government’s circular calling senior students back to classes, parents mostly baulked.

At Bal Bharti School, Dwarka, 65% of the parents responded in the negative to sending their children back to school. At Mount Abu Public School, Rohini, 75% of the parents of classes IX-XII students gave a thumbs down, while in another private school, parents of just 25 students in a class of 400 were amenable to the resumption of classes.

Unlike their parents, students want to return to school, say teachers who have interacted with their students. “They say online learning is not much fun and they want to meet friends. The Class XII students, especially, want to enjoy their last year in school,” claimed an English teacher of a south Delhi school.