Noida/Ghaziabad: Flower petals, balloons and sanitisers welcomed students of Classes 1 to 5 at schools in Noida and Ghaziabad on Monday as they returned to campuses after nearly a year. Tiny tots of Class 1 joined school with masks on Monday as primary schools reopened following government orders.
At many schools, the children were welcomed with flower showers and balloons. While there was minimal attendance on the day, the teachers said that they are waiting for more children to join. At present, 50% of each class (1 to 5) will go to school on alternate days.
Private schools, however, have not shown any keenness in opening right away and schools claimed that they are awaiting parental consensus for the same. Many schools are on term break and sessions are likely to start on or after April 1.
The schools called half the number of students in classes 1, 3 and 5 on Monday and the same for classes 2, 4 and 7 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the other half will get a chance to go back to school on the next alternate days. With the latest reopening of classrooms, government schools in both cities have been more or less regularised. However, private schools faced a lukewarm response from parents.
“We were overjoyed to see the children back in school today. We are going to accommodate 50% of the classes on alternate days. On Day 1, we had nearly 30% attendance. Since the school was shut for 11 months, it had to be cleaned and organised to welcome the children. All SOPs are being followed and children are coming to school with masks. There is sanitiser for all,” said Sapna Mishra, a teacher at the government composite school (1-8) in Sector 12.
On private schools planning to start the primary section from April 1, Sanjay Gupta, chairman of Ramagya Group, said: “Currently, we are imparting education and conducting examinations in the virtual mode. We are set to open our school on April 1. We will ensure social distancing norms and safety precautions so that the parents do not have any concern for the safety of their children.”
Aster Public School in Noida Extension, however, opened its primary classes on Monday. VK Sharma, the chairman of the school, said: “We really welcome the decision of the government to open schools for all classes. All the teachers as well as students were very excited to come to school and meet their colleagues and friends in person. All safety measures and precautions were already in place, which has created a lot of confidence and encouraged parents to send their children to school.”
Renu Singh, principal of Amity International School, said: “We are now on term-break and on March 15 we are reopening all the classes. So far, we have been trying to get consent from parents for resuming offline classes. The response is very poor.”
In Ghaziabad, at the schools that opened on Monday, students were in for a grand welcome. They were presented with balloons and even showered with petals.
“Since the schools reopened after a gap of nearly a year, we wanted to make it memorable for students. Hence, we decorated the entire school and welcomed them with balloons and petals,” said Meenakshi Singh, administrator of SSD Jain school, Kavinagar.
“At the same time, we ensured that Covid protocols were adhered to. We made arrangements for sanitisation for students and in classes. Since only 50% of the class was allowed, the social distancing norms could be implemented without a fuss,” added Singh.
Dhruv Somania, a Class 5 student of SSD Jain School, said: “It felt good to come to school after such a long time. We were treated nicely and were presented with balloons. However, as many of my friends were not present, I missed them.”
Many private schools in Ghaziabad too remained shut for primary classes. A spokesperson of DPS Indirapuram school said, “The government circular said that primary schools can open for regular studies, but this being the end of session, we have already wrapped up the syllabus. As of now, we are preparing for the final exams. There is no logic to reopening schools now. We, however, plan to resume primary classes in the new session.”
BB Choudhary, basic siksha adhikari (Ghaziabad), said: “Under UP Board, there are 451 schools and most of the primary schools opened on Monday. The average attendance was around 70%. We hope that in the days to come, the attendance will improve. For this, we are making efforts by being in touch with the school administrations.”