Telangana: No vaccine, no schools, says parents

HYDERABAD: Is the decision to reopen schools physically in Telangana taken in haste? At least parents think so as they say that it is very early to reopen educational institutions, especially schools, and added that the state should not experiment with and risk the lives of children, who are yet to be vaccinated.
They said that the state is trying to help managements to collect fees under various heads by reopening schools in July. “We all know what happened when the state reopened physical classes for students of class 6 and above during the end of last academic year. Schools have turned into hotspots and affected children, teachers, and other staff along with parents.
When we are just coming out of the second wave, it is hard to understand why the government is being reckless and is paving a way for the third wave by opening educational institutions,” said K Venkata Sainath of Hyderabad Schools Parents Association, adding that just like last year managements will collect fees and leave students to their fate afterward.
They termed reopening schools for physical classes at this stage as ambitious and added that the state should rethink its decision as it is only going to help managements. “It’s way too early and ambitious. We definitely can’t afford to experiment on children who are not yet vaccinated. They should wait until the vaccine is given to children and continue only with online or digital classes,” said Sangeetha Rao, parent of a class 8 student studying in a well-known ICSE school in the city.
She said that at least for those with access to online classes, the last academic year went smoothly and the same should be continued this year as well.
Parents said that children are already scared after seeing their family members and others suffering from Covid-19 with some even experiencing it first-hand as they themselves tested positive. They said that children should not be exposed to anymore trauma by asking them to live in fear of catching the virus and spreading it to their loved ones by attending schools. Parents further said that with monsoon ahead, it would be very hard to differentiate between common cold, fever and Covid-19 and students will be forced to go through unnecessary medical tests and also miss classes.
They said that it would be hard to maintain social distancing even if a class with the strength of 45 to 50 students is divided into two or three parts and for children to wear masks and follow Covid-19 guidelines for the entire day.