NEW DELHI: Ravi Sahoo finally got to meet his classmates after 10 long months when his
school reopened on Monday. The Class X student of a government school revealed that his mother was reluctant to send him back to school for fear of
Covid-19, but he had urged her to talk to his
teachers. When she finally acquiesced, the 17-year-old hurried to school with two masks and a bottle of sanitiser in his bag to be greeted by a cheery school gate adorned with marigold flowers.
Sahoo’s isn’t the exemplary case, however. The attendance registers on Monday showed how many
students of classes X and XII were held back from school by their parents. In Sahoo’s institution, Kautilya Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Chirag Enclave, only 20% of the 700 class X and XII students were present on the day. School principal C S Verma said, “We hope more children will return soon. Seeing other students, parents will begin to feel confident.”
Ayush Sharma, Class XII student of Mount Abu Public School, Rohini, was impatient to return to school. Welcomed warmly by their institution, Sharma and his friends were strictly advised to remain in their classroom bubbles. At Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in central Delhi, though just eight students reported for their preboard
exams, those who did observed a few new things. Class XII student Amitoj Singh found spots marked where students could stand to converse, sanitiser machines and wash basins at regular intervals and the Covid operating regulations pasted prominently.
The Sardar Patel student was accompanied by his mother, Jagdish Kaur, a doctor who works with World Health Organization. Kaur said, “The infection rate is going down and people are venturing out to offices. The schools are taking all precautions and the kids are confident, so hopefully things will get back to normal now.”
Government Boys’ Senior Secondary School, Ghitorni, too had dismal attendance with just six of 84 Class XII students present on Monday. Class X had a better day with 36 of 162 students returning. To ensure not more than 15 students sitting in a classroom, the three sections of Class X were divided into nine groups. One of the Class X students, Himanshu Vishwakarma, said, “I had missed my friends a lot and was happy to come back to school.”
Government Co-Ed Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, Sector 8, Rohini, was a happy contrast, with 60% of the students attending classes. “Resumption of classes is good because students of
government schools don't have the kind of facilities to persevere with online classes,” ruminated school principal A K Jha.
Megha Thakur, Class X student, exemplified such access-denied students. When her parents left for work every day, she didn’t have a phone to log in for classes. “I was so excited when the government announced that schools would reopen,” she laughed.
However, many private schools will reopen a few days later. Springdales School, Pusa Road, was one of them. Principal Ameeta Mulla Wattal explained, “Some students requested to be excused because they had applied to sit for JEE in February and wanted to prepare for those exams. Their parents are fine with them returning to school and are confident about the precautionary steps we have taken.”