CHENNAI: After a gap of nearly 10 months, schools in Tamil Nadu opened their gates to students of classes 10 and 12 on Tuesday. What once used to be the ‘rush hour mornings’ for most families — getting their children ready for school — now seem like a nostalgic memory.
Thermal scanners, sanitizers, and social distancing have all taken the place of the fun and banter in classrooms. The first day regime at most schools included teachers explaining the safety protocols to be followed by students. Officials from the School Education Department also inspected several schools to check for adherence to the SOP, issued last week. Turnout was low in some districts and high in others.
Back in school again, students and teachers are an excited lot
While many affluent private matriculation and CBSE schools saw up to 70 per cent student turnout, government and aided schools saw only about half the attendance. Teachers said that insufficient transport facilities, geographical migration of parents for jobs, and financial woes contributed to less footfall. Classes were not held on Tuesday and shall not be conducted on Wednesday as well. Schools in Cuddalore recorded an overall attendance of just 67.57 per cent.
Most schools in Villupuram, however, recorded full attendance. The classrooms were occupied by not more than 25 students per room by using additional classrooms in the school, said sources. In Vellore, students felt excited to be back at schools after a long gap. They said that the physical classes have now broken the monotony of online classes where there is hardly any interaction. “When I was attending online classes, I had few options to interact with teachers and clear my doubts.
But now I find comfortable with the physical classes,” said S Aishwarya, Class 10 student from a Katpadi gover nment school. The teachers were as much delighted as the students to be back in activity. “As a teacher, I am very happy to see my students back in school. I become more active when they are around,” said SN Janardhanan, assistant head master of the school. Schools in Madurai district recorded an average of 95 per cent attendance on day 1.
As many as 534 schools had reopened in the district. Things were not very different in Coimbatore either. Smiles writ large on their faces, as the students walked into classrooms on the day. According to officials, as many as 632 schools, out of the total 653, reopened in the district, and over 42,000 students attended classes. While most residential schools in Nilgiris remained closed, the district recorded a 95 per cent turnout with 218 schools reopening. Most schools in districts like Tirupur, Erode, Kanniyakumari, Sivaganga, Ariyalur, Perambalur, and Virudhunagar also recorded high percentage of s tudent s returning to classrooms.
Ice-breakers
All district Chief Educational Officers (CEOs) instructed schools to hold counselling sessions in which teachers were asked to make students comfortable with the school environment again. “Students have fallen out of the habit of studying. They are not used to the schools drill anymore. So it will take us a little time to help them focus on studies,” said MM Ramalakshmi, headmistress of Govt Presidency Girls Higher Secondary School, Egmore.
The school held yoga and meditation sessions for students. “Most students were comfortable, and even happy to come back to school. But we are still figuring out if they want to continue online education,” said S Joseph Maria Antoine, assistant head master at Don Bosco school in Chennai. A Class 10 student from a government school said, her mother, who is a vegetable vendor, takes the only phone in the house for work. “I could not attend online classes like my classmates.
So coming to school is the only option for me because I get a lot of doubts while watching Kalvi TV.” The headmistress of an aided school in T Nagar said that only about half her students showed up. “There is a lot of learning loss. I learnt today that some students did not touch their books at all. Some were forced to take up a job to reduce the family’s financial woes.” Another government school in the city has allotted a seating system to make sure students do not mix or sit too close to each another. The school also reduced the recess and lunch time to 10 and 20 minutes, respectively.