On the first day of reopening of schools from nursery to class VIII in Delhi, the number of students remained modest. This is mainly because schools, teachers, parents and students want to wait for the Diwali holidays to end.
Sadhna Rumuka, a student of Class VIII, said, “Though schools have been reopened from Monday, I will assess the situation after Diwali and only when the Covid-19 cases are under control.”
Like Sadhna, many other students want to wait for some time before physically going to schools. Recently, East Delhi Public School asked parents of classes VI to VIII to provide feedback on sending their children to schools, only 30 per cent were willing to send the children.
“While schools should open at the earliest, given the fact that students need a nurturing classroom environment to learn and grow physically and mentally. That being said, though, I think schools need a few more days for Diwali to be over,” said Alka Kapoor, principal of Modern Public School in Shalimar Bagh.
Most of the schools in Delhi are conducting exams for higher classes. Average attendance was 5-10 percent or less.
“The school reopened today for students of classes VI to VIII, but attendance was very low as they were busy conducting pre-board exams for classes X and XII. Whereas, students in Delhi Municipal Corporation schools have not been called as of now and most of their teachers are still on Covid duty,” said Ashok Agarwal, national president of All India Parents Association.
“The blended mode should be stopped immediately as there has been learning loss to students especially in government schools in the last 2 years. Taking all necessary precautions, schools should be reopened with 100% capacity. As far as parental approval is concerned, it has no legal value,” said Agarwal.
.