KOLKATA: Several schools in the city have started doing their homework to ensure students have a smooth transition from at-home, online classes to the pre-pandemic days of on-campus lessons when the state government gives the nod to reopen educational institutes in Bengal. Some schools have already sent or are in the process of mailing questionnaires to parents, seeking to know their views on sending their children back to regular classes. They will finally take consent letters from parents.
At Loreto House, parents of students from classes VI to VIII have been sent a questionnaire, with posers ranging from the kids’ response to online classes to if parents were ready to send the children back to normal school. “We will submit the answers soon. The questionnaire is an elaborate one, where we have also been asked to let the authorities know if the school had done enough to reach out to students and lift their spirits during the period, if the online teaching has facilitated the process of independent learning for the child and which options will we choose between sending a child back to usual teaching every day, a combination of online teaching and normal days or online teaching for academics and attending school for practical, physical and co-curricular activities,” said a parent of the school.
Last month, The Heritage School had sent an online form requesting parents to say if they were ready to send the child back to school. “When the Centre had extended permission to educational institutes to resume on-campus classes, we had sent an online form, requesting parents to express their interest in sending their children back to school,” said principal Seema Sapru. “The parents were mailed the forms, where we mentioned all the measures, which we have taken to keep the campus safe. We then asked the parents if they would like to send their child in case we reopen, as and when the state government sends a directive. While around 30%-40% of them had agreed and said they might consider allowing the kids to attend classes on the campus, most others pointed out that they would wait and watch,” Sapru added.
At both Calcutta Boys’ School and Methodist School, Dankuni, parents will be sent a questionnaire by the school authorities after the festival. “We will send a form in which we will ask parents if they will be interested in sending their wards to school. If they answer in the affirmative, then, they will have to mention the safety measures that they want the school to put in place. That will increase their confidence further,” said Raja McGee, principal of Calcutta Boys’ School and secretary of Methodist School, Dankuni.
Nabarun De, principal at Central Modern School in Baranagar, also said they were looking to send a similar questionnaire to parents, seeking their consent. “But we will send the form only after the state government gives the go-ahead to reopen campuses,” De said. He pointed out that parents would also be invited to the campus to have first-hand knowledge on the measures being adopted by the school for maintaining safe physical distancing when students are in school.
Saswati Chakrabarti, mother of a class VII student at a city school, said it was natural for parents to be worried about their children contracting the novel coronavirus from school . “The data of virus spreading among schoolchildren and teachers from Andhra Pradesh and some other states, where schools have reopened for in-person classes, are scaring me,” she said.