Covid-19 Cases declining, schools await Delhi govt directions to resume offline classes

New Delhi: Phased reopening of schools may be discussed in the upcoming parents teacher meeting of Delhi government schools scheduled to be held between July 19 and 31, heads of government schools have said.

With the Covid-19 cases remaining below 100 for the past two weeks, and the positivity rate staying less than 1% for over a month, the heads of schools said they were waiting for directions from the state government to restart offline classes. To be sure, only the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) is empowered to decide if schools should be reopened or not. The DDMA last week announced opening of school auditoriums for academic activities, but with up to 50% of their attendance capacity.

Rakesh Semalty, head of a government school in West Jyoti Nagar, said it was necessary to call students back to schools in a staggered manner to avoid “serious repercussions”. “These children have been in their homes for around 16 months now... Since a majority of parents and school staff have been vaccinated, we can consider calling senior students back to school in a staggered manner while maintaining physical distancing. Parents have been approaching us, asking us to hold at least one or two classes a week so that there is some involvement for students,” he said.

Semalty also said that lack of access to the internet and online devices is also a reason why several parents want in-person classes to resume.

A senior education department official, requesting anonymity, said the Delhi government has already started taking feedback from principals and teachers who are connected to the parents through school management committees on the road map to resume in-person classes.

“Consultation with stakeholders and conversation within the department on the matter (reopening of schools) has already begun. The agenda of reopening schools are on the table, and we are waiting for feedback from parents during the upcoming PTMs before taking any call. While cases have gone down, we have to take the confidence level of students and parents into account and find out whether they feel confident about returning to school or not,” the official said.

Awadhesh Kumar Jha, head of a government school in Sarvodaya Co-ed Vidyalaya in Rohini Sector-8, said, “Along with counselling parents and sharing inspirational stories, we will be focusing on removing the fear around Covid-19 and mentally prepare children to return to schools, if needed. We will ask parents if they are willing to send their children to school and record data on the matter.”

Many private schools have also received requests from parents over holding offline classes. Mena Mittle, vice-president of Modern Public School in Shalimar Bagh, said they are waiting for government directives on the matter. “We have been receiving queries from several working parents... Though there are concerns of safety, teachers and parents believe that students need to be allowed to come to school and connect with their teachers to break the cycle of isolation due to the pandemic,” she said.

However, some parent groups also raised concerns over reopening of schools. Aprajita Gautam, president of the Delhi Parents Association, said, “Only those parents who have issues with internet accessibility and devices or those who have to step out for work may be in the favour of offline classes due to their own helplessness. The collapse of the health infrastructure during the second wave and the possibility of children being affected during the third wave doesn’t instil confidence among parents to send their children to school.”