Pvt schools in JSR to reopen shortly, some to opt ‘hybrid’ mode

Jamshedpur: Most of the 40-plus unaided private English medium schools in the Steel City will resume physical classes for senior students later this week. A majority of the schools will have only offline classes, but some have also opted for a combination of the offline and the online mode.
“Offline classes will be conducted on alternate days,” B Chandrashekhar, the president of the Private Unaided English Medium Schools Association, said.
Chandrashekhar, who is also the chairman of the leading DBMS chain of educational institutions, said owing to insufficient staff strength, several schools were not preferring physical classes for senior students. “Government guidelines say that attendance in physical classes is not compulsory. Hence it is not obligatory on the part of parents to send their wards to the school,” Chandrashekhar said.
He added that online classes for sudents till Class VII will be conducted as usual. “Necessary Covid-19 protocols will be put in place at the campuses ahead of the resumption of normal classes,” he added.
Chandrashekhar said due to the limited capacity of the classrooms in several schools, it was not feasible to conduct physical classes of all the sections of Classes IX-XII at the same time. “Maximum 25 students could be accommodated in one room going by physical distancing norms,” he said.
The principal of St Mary’s English School, Fr P Raj, said his school will hold online classes for students whose parents have declined to give them consent for attending physical classes.
Schools like St Mary’s English School and J H Tarapore School, among others, have said that they have no problem if the administration used their school building for the vaccination drive as they have adequate infrastructure to hold classes.
A father of a Class XII student of Vidya Bharati Chinmaya School, Telco, said he was not keen on sending his son for physical classes.
“I am not prepared to send my child to school till there is a possibility of the third wave,” G K Ojha, a Govindpur resident, said.
Likewise, a Tata Steel employee, whose daughter studies at the Andhra Association English School here, said he would take some more time before deciding whether to send his daughter to school or not.