Rajasthan: Parents oppose, private schools for reopening

JAIPUR: Rajasthan government’s decision to reopen schools from Class 1 to 8 have received positive reactions from school authorities and negative from parents’ association. Classes 6 to 8 will be reopened in state from September 20 while classes 1 to 5 are scheduled to reopen from September 27. The private school owners have been demanding it for a long time.Recently, more than 2,500 private school owners gathered in front of Birla Auditorium demanding reopening of schools.
Reacting to the news, Anil Sharma, president of School Shiksha Pariwar said, “It is a welcoming decision by the state government. We have been demanding it for a long time. Most students are not able to get online education for whom classroom teaching is the only option. Hence, this decision is in favor of the students.”
Parents however, have completely opposed the decision. Parents have claimed that government should have decided to take this step looking at the present strength in schools. Sunil Yadav, president of Rajasthan Parents Forum said, “From classes 9 to 12, schools are already functioning but not more than 20% students are attending classroom teaching. From classes 1 to 6, sending children to school is a risk and we will not accept it. This will not be acceptable.”
Some parents commented that government has taken this decision to appease the private school owners who are interested in this to get their fees. Already many cases have emerged in which parents have said that their children are being harassed in school for non-payment of fees.
There are however, some parents who are in support of this decision. Dipti Shukla, resident of Raja Park, said that anyways her children are now going in every social event, marriage and public park to play.
“There is no harm in sending children to school. If there is a problem, we will stop sending them. But for the last two years children have become addicted to electronic gadgets and going to school will help them socialise again.”