Gurgaon: Haryana government’s plan to reopen schools for the first time since the shutdown because of the pandemic received a tepid response in Gurgaon on the first day. While about 18% government school students attended the three-hour long sessions meant for those in classes 9 to 12, the turnout was much worse in the very few private schools that had thrown their doors open for students.
As per data released by the education department, of the total 40,273 students enrolled in classes 9 to 12, only 17.5% or 7,078 students showed interest in attending classroom lectures at their respective schools.
The class-wise data further shows that only students who will be appearing for board exams were more inclined to return to classes in the school. While only 13% of 13,558 students of class 9 showed interest in attending physical classes, around 23% of 9,694 class 10 students turned up to attend the three-hour long classes. Similarly, only 14% of the 9,098 students of class 11 got consent from their parents to attend classes in their schools, while over 21% of 7,923 class 12 students attended the schools for the first time since March.
The state education department has argued that the attendance may improve in the coming days after the remaining parents are convinced of the safety norms practised inside the school campuses.
“This are just the initial few steps to gradually move towards the normalcy that was disrupted in March due to the pandemic. It will take time for things to be streamlined. Everyone is nervous about the vulnerabilities associated with stepping out of homes during pandemic. But when the parents realise that the schools are all geared up to provide safety, attendance will improve. Moreover, it isn’t mandatory to hold physical classes but those who wish to can do so following our SOP,” said an education department official.
After the state government ordered on Wednesday for schools to reopen from November 2, parents as well as many private schools expressed their concerns regarding calling students back. They criticised the move pointing out that Delhi has also decided to keep schools shut till further notice and that there isn’t any pressing need to resume classroom teaching.
A majority of the leading private schools, in fact, are yet to take a call of opening the schools for full-fledged operations. Most are waiting it out to resume full-fledged classes and don’t expect the physical classes to start before Diwali.
Vaibhav Kapoor, the principal of Ajanta Public School that opened on Monday, said, “About 80 children showed up on the first day. But they were only involved in outdoor activities like music, arts, and physical training sessions on Monday. Classroom study will also be started gradually. A decision will be taken on this after Diwali,” he said.
Similarly, Charu Malik, principal of DAV School in Sector 49, said that they don’t have sufficient positive feedback from parents to resume classes in the campus yet. “The major reason for this is that parents do not want to send children to schools for three-hour sessions right now. We had asked the parents to give their consent via Google Forms and only 18% of parents were i the favour of resumption of classes in school. Even those who did give consent do not want to sent their children to school more than once or twice a week,” Malik added.
Many private schools have claimed that even the previous orders that allowed the government and private schools to call students of classes 9 to 12 to the schools for brief remedial and doubt-clearing sessions did not receive a very encouraging response. While most of the schools saw less than 5% to 10% students showing interest, many didn’t get consent of any parent to call students to schools.
They have contested that with online classes going smoothly and even the half-yearly examinations conducted online, parents do not see the urgency to send their kids back to the schools.