This story is from September 28, 2021

Baby steps to reopen schools too little, must hurry: Experts

The lockdown was over long ago, business is picking up, malls are teeming with people, restaurants are recording an uptick in business and families are going on that vacation which had been postponed for a long time.
Baby steps to reopen schools too little, must hurry: Experts
Representative Image. (AP Photo)
There’s a clear divide in response of parents in public and government schools in Delhi over resumption of offline classes. The former are wary of taking any chances as their wards aren’t vaccinated yet, whereas the latter are relieved to finally send their children to school because online classes are difficult to access. Most principals and experts believe kids should return to school or else it will be too late to bridge the learning gaps.
Many of them feel the need for parental consent should be scrapped.
NEW DELHI: The lockdown was over long ago, business is picking up, malls are teeming with people, restaurants are recording an uptick in business and families are going on that vacation which had been postponed for a long time. And yet, when it comes to reopening of schools, doubts begin to assail parents who are concerned about their children being vulnerable to Covid since they are not vaccinated. Around the world, however, experts are stressing that schools are not super-spreaders and children are losing valuable time at a critical period in their lives with their mental, emotional and educational development at stake.
When it comes to children, governments are faced with a dilemma. The Delhi government has invoked parental consent for classes IX to XII, which are the only ones to have opened for practical and project work. There is a clear divide in the response of the parents in public and government schools. The former are resourceful and wary of taking any chances whereas the latter are relieved to finally send their wards to school because online classes were difficult to access and there was no way they could bridge the digital divide.
Most principals, be it of government or private schools, and even experts believe children should now return to school. They say if the schools don’t open now, it will be too late to bridge the learning gaps and for children to grow well, emotionally and socially. Many of them feel that the need for parental consent should be done away with.
The principals say they have found that the children are quite happy to return to school after about a gap of 18 months. On September 1, the Delhi government opened schools in the capital for students of classes IXth to XIIth for practical and project work. The expert committee constituted by the government to look into reopening of schools had suggested that classes VIth to VIIIth should resume from September 8. However, Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) kept silent on this and the students stayed at home.

Since the re-opening, the attendance at government schools has ranged between 80%-90% but the response in private schools has been mixed. The attendance has been better for Xth and XIIth compared to IXth and XIth, driven obviously by the need to prepare for the boards. But in some prominent institutions, the attendance is as low as 5%-10%.
The principal of one such school in west Delhi, who didn’t wish to be identified, questioned the parents’ hesitation. “If it doesn’t happen now, it will be too late. The children are comfortable studying at home and so are the parents due to which they do not give consent. When children are going to malls and for holidays, why not get them back to school! Classes IIIrd to XIIth can be opened easily and it is difficult to understand the reluctance of the government to do so,” she added. In her school, attendance is as low as 5%. She said she was especially worried for the children studying under the EWS quota, who do not have complete access to digital infrastructure.
Annual Status of Education Report 2020 had highlighted that just 11% of all students enrolled in both government and private schools are attending online classes while 21.5% were using recorded video classes. National Statistical Organisation (NSO), which highlighted the stark digital divide, said the capital had the highest internet access. That was just 55% of homes.
There are schools like Sirjan School, Model Town, where only the class XIIth students are coming for practical classes. Parents have withheld their consent for others.
“The students are very happy to return to the classroom,” said Tania Joshi, principal of The Indian School. “Many have said that during online classes they were unable to voice their opinion or raise doubts. Direct contact with the teacher is important and many a time they were unable to say anything due to peer pressure or other reasons. Even for subjects like fashion studies, practical classes in a lab are of utmost importance.”
Divya Bhatia, principal of Amity International School, Saket, agreed. “The students get to meet friends and learn with their peers, but parents are still worried that they have not been vaccinated.”
However, Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya, epidemiologist and public health specialist, said that vaccination should not be a pre-requisite for opening schools. “We are already behind. Currently, everything is open except for schools. They should have been the last to close and first to open as scientific evidence suggests that schools are not super-spreaders,” he said.
That’s the reason why some prominent schools are holding orientation programmes for the parents to build confidence. LV Sehgal, principal of Bal Bharti School, Gangaram, hopes that parents will in due course be convinced that their children will be safe in school.
The parents of students in government schools are, however, building pressure for resumption of all classes. Rati Ram Meena, principal of Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Sector VI, RK Puram, said, "We need the junior classes to be resumed even more. For them, semi online activities are held and not all join the online classes. Joining school will help them to learn better," he said. Another principal of a government school in Seemapuri, who didn’t wish to be identified, said: “We want to open our schools because the parents keep asking when that will be. It is not in our hands. We cannot do anything till the government gives the go-ahead," she said.
“We have a large number of students, and if those of classes VIth to XIIth start coming, it might be difficult to fit them in the classrooms. But there can be an alternative of running the schools in shifts,” said Sunil Kumar Joon, an English teacher at Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Ghitorni.
AK Jha, principal of Government Co-ed Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, Sector 8, Rohini, said, "We have devised the schedule in such a way that each batch of children in a class comes to the school twice a week. With this system in place, the junior school students can easily join," he said.
Once all the students are back, the process for repairing the damage must begin. "Teachers can help students to recover their confidence and spiral back from where many of them are in terms of their abilities to learn. This must be a long process -- over a year -- to compensate for the acute neglect they have been subjected to,” said Anita Rampal, professor and former dean, faculty of education, Delhi University. “Engaging activities and challenging tasks done in small groups, not individually, will keep up their motivation and allow them to spring back. The government should not conduct the National Assessment Survey in November, as announced, for that will unnecessarily put pressure on the teachers and badly disrupt the process of patiently bringing back the children."
Experts suggest that the state and district academic bodies must work with teachers to ensure a carefully re-imagined curriculum, not a mechanical deletion of some topics or chapters.
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