Maharashtra: Rural schools look forward to reopening

NAGPUR: As the new academic session in Vidarbha rolls on into its first week, many schools in remote areas are hoping for a physical reopening. With online classes not being a practical approach due to lack of resources and sometimes even access to the internet, physical mode of teaching remains the only option.
Rupa Borekar, principal of Eklavya Model Residential School (Devada) in Chandrapur, said teaching approach has to be adapted to the situation. “There is no way online teaching can be done for poor tribal students living in remote villages. Also, the impact of learning when it’s done in physical mode is at a different level completely,” said Borekar.
In Gadchiroli district’s Bhamragarh taluka, things are no different. Vinit Padmawar, principal of a zilla parishad school in Koyanguda village, said the ground realities in their region are very different. “There are places where we don’t even get phone network, so internet access is out of the question for many of our students. These are poor tribal families who are now slowly realizing the importance of education, but for that we need to keep the children engaged in the education ecosystem,” said Padmawar.
Gadchiroli and Chandrapur districts were the first ones to restart schools physically last year after the government gave the go-ahead. But for Padmawar, who heads a primary school, physical classes had never begun as permission was given only till middle school. To counter that, ZP schools in Bhamragarh started home visits and taught students.
An education official, who did not wish to be identified, said, “Many government schools in remote areas are ready for reopening. Social distancing is not an issue because hardly 25-30 students are enrolled in entire school. In cities, you have more students in a single section. We had cases of schools opening up physically even before permission was granted because parents and students both wanted that to happen.”
So far, the state government has not issued any instructions regarding reopening of physical classes.