While the State government has decided to reopen schools and PU colleges later this month, many parents say they are not yet ready to send their children to school as the children are not vaccinated yet. However, school managements feel it is high time that they reopened schools and will begin classes even if a small number of students attend.
Classes for high schools started in a phased manner this January, but schools were ordered to shut down again in March. Many private schools chose not to reopen as they were worried that their schools would become hotspots, while in some other cases, the schools did not have adequate infrastructure to follow the SOP.
Shweta Sharan, founder of Bangalore Schools, a parent support group, said that while most parents were not ready to send their children to school, some were keen to do so. “Many parents are not willing to send their children to school because they are worried about a third wave and the Delta variant. They also say that in our country, with many schools having a large number of children per class, social distancing and COVID-19 protocol will be hard to follow,” she said.
At the same time, there is a small but steadily growing group of parents who believe that the reopening of schools cannot be delayed any more. “These parents believe that children need to go back to school because missing out on crucial years in school has deprived them of academic and social skills, not to mention the mental toll that it has had on them because they have not interacted with their peers.”
While parents whose children have access to gadgets and Internet connectivity say they are comfortable with their children attending online classes, some others are glad that the government has decided to reopen schools. Murthy S., an autorickshaw driver, said, “My son is a first generation learner and he has not been able to learn much in the last one and half years. I will gladly sign the consent form and send him to school on the first day.”
Mansoor Ali Khan, member, board of management, DPS Group of Schools, said they would assess the willingness and the response of the parents the following week. “We will conduct classes even if there are only a small number of students who choose to attend; the remaining students can continue to attend classes online. As it is a pandemic, we need to go the extra mile and ensure that everyone is comfortable,” he said.
Schools are asking all students to submit details of their family members and their vaccination status.
D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, also urged the government to ensure that they treat parents of school students as a priority group and ensure they are given preference during vaccination drives. “This would help ensure that students are indirectly safe as their first circle would be vaccinated even though they themselves are not.”
However, Sumanth Narayan, founder of Shanthinikethana School, said that they would not reopen immediately as there was a possibility of schools being closed again with a third wave of infections.