Nagpur: Just over 14,000
students attended
schools across the city on Monday following a nine month hiatus.
Attendance figures in Nagpur
rural schools have more than doubled to 38,000 ever since reopening on December 14.
Now that Nagpur city has finally joined the school reopening club, every
district in Vidarbha now has schools/junior colleges operating.
Agamveer Singh Renu, a Std XII student, said his first day in school was a pleasant surprise. “I thought I would be bored in school because of the multiple restrictions in place. But I did not even realize how the time went by and it was indeed a lot of fun,” said Renu.
As of now, only Std IX-XII have permission to reopen in Maharashtra. Reopening is not mandatory, nor are parents bound to send their children to school. In Nagpur city, around 11% of parents allowed their wards back on campus.
Chintaman Vanjari, district
education officer, said, “The attendance figures as well as consent statistics will definitely go up. We have seen that happen in schools outside the city limits and the same pattern will be repeated here. It’s natural for all parents to be initially apprehensive but when they hear about the safety protocols through other students, their approach too changes.”
Vanjari’s claim is backed up by evidence. Across Maharashtra, the trend of rising attendance in schools is seen. Ever since schools reopened on November 23, attendance figures have jumped more than 300%. Post Christmas break figures are awaited and it is expected the increase will breach the 500% mark.
Adarsh Vidya Mandir (Gandhibagh) witnessed a strong response from students with more than 50% landing up in school. Ashnarayan Tiwari,
principal of the institute, said, “We had to split the students as more than expected came to campus. While it’s clear that slowly more and more students will start attending school, this brings a bigger challenge for all of us. The
government needs to bring in a policy for
testing all students as this will help avert problems later.”