It’s been more than five months that schools are closed as part of a response to the surge in Covid cases. Around 32-crore students in the country are currently away from school as uncertainty hovers over the reopening of the latter. With Unlock 3.0 ending on August 31, it is expected that the various state governments will soon make public a clear direction on reopening of schools under Unlock 4.0.
It is reported that the Union Health Ministry has prepared the SOPs for the reopening of schools and forwarded it to the Union Education Ministry. While the Centre is working to chalk out a plan to reopen schools, it is likely that the final decision will have to be taken by the state governments on how and when to bring back students to the classrooms. As of now, the Centre has held several rounds of discussions with states over the phase-wise reopening of schools but it seems that the States are still not able to decide.
Most of the state governments are not in favour of reopening unless they are convinced Covid is no more a danger. Since this reopening decision is sensitive it is expected that the state governments decide on this matter only after a thorough consultation with parents and stakeholders concerned. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal and Goa are reviewing the possibility of reopening of schools in a phased manner starting from September 1 till November 14.
Assam is planning to reopen schools from September 1. Athough the final decision is yet to be made, teachers have been asked to get their Covid-19 tests done.
In Uttar Pradesh, the government is yet to issue any guidelines for reopening schools while in Bihar the government has extended the lockdown in the state to September 06. In Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Meghalaya schools will remain closed till August 31 and the closure is likely to be extended further.
Delhi houses 4.4 million students in both private and government schools and about 800,000 to one million college students. The State was quoted that reopening of schools and colleges cannot be thought of for a few months.
Accordingly, from the reports on the SOPs issued by the Centre, it is gathered that for the first 15 days, students of Class 10 to 12 would be asked to physically attend school. Different sections of a class would get particular days to attend school and after the introduction of physical classes for Class 10 to 12, the schools would be advised to start physical schooling with restricted hours for Class 6 to 9. Schools will be asked to spread out by utilising primary section classrooms.
It is also suggested that the number of hours would be restricted from the current 5 to 6 hours a day to only 2 to 3 hours. All schools are likely to run in shifts from 8 am to 11 am and 12 noon to 3 pm, with a one-hour break in between for sanitisation. The schools would be advised to run on 33 percent capacity of teaching staff and students.
At the time when the Centre has come up with protocols for school reopening, the reports from developed countries that have reopened schools are not reassuring either. Israel was one of the first countries to reopen schools soon after there was a significant decrease in the number of Covid cases. The Israeli government reopened schools by the end of May but within days of reopening, infections were reported leading to a large outbreak. Several schools were closed again.
Similarly, France opened its schools in May and saw one-third of school children return to their classrooms. However, a sudden surge of cases caused panic among citizens. Several schools shut down immediately and limited reopening to junior high schools in green zones.
Many states in the US also experienced similar outbreaks as a result of reopening. As per the information available, as many as 97,000 children were down with Covid within two weeks of reopening. Reports from Berlin in Germany reported around 50 schools confirming infections.
In Japan, schools reopened in June. Though different strategies were adopted by different schools, Japanese students attended classes on alternate days. Students undergo daily temperature checks and lunches are silent affairs with social distancing.
In our country, parents are not in favour of sending their wards to schools even if these reopen. In a second survey conducted by ‘local circles’, majority of the parents in the country are still wary of sending their wards to school on September 1. As compared to the previous survey when 33 per cent had voted to send their kids to school, only 23 per cent replied in the affirmative this time around. Remaining 15 per cent were undecided.
Similarly, in Himachal Pradesh, the government initiated a parent-teachers' meet through e-platform from August 4 to 7 in which 48,000 teachers reached out to over 7.05 lakh parents to get their the opinion. About 62 per cent parents were not in favour, while remaining 38 per cent wanted proper social distancing and other safety norms to be followed in schools.
The decision of reopening around September 1 seems remote as of now. Over the past few days, the virus has spread like wildfire. Going by the subdued sentiments of the parents in the country, and the global experience of a surge in cases after the resumption of schools abroad resulting in thousands of students and a teacher going into quarantine, a hasty decision to reopen is most likely to be disastrous.
Going by the subdued sentiments of parents in the country, and the global experience of a surge in cases after the resumption of schools, a hasty decision to reopen is most likely to be disastrous
