Haryana’s government schools recorded 34% attendance on Wednesday, just a week after these reopened for students of Classes 9 to 12.
Schools in Mahendergarh and Rewari districts saw the most encouraging response with an attendance of 49% and 46% respectively. At 23%, Gurugram had the lowest attendance in the state, officials of the school education department said.
Mahendergarh district education officer (DEO) Sunil Dutt said, “Teachers in the district have been approaching parents to convince them to allow their wards to attend school. We are following all safety protocols. I have asked the school heads to keep at least 200 face masks at the entry to provide it to students who come without masks.”
Students happy to be back
Meanwhile, students were thrilled to be finally back to school after a long hiatus. Anjali Singh, a Class 12 student, said, “We were facing a lot of troubles in online classes so we are happy that the school has reopened. Many students were unable to be attend online classes as they did not have access to phone or internet.”
When the HT team visited the government senior secondary school at Kheri Asadh village, on Rohtak-Delhi road, most students were seen sitting in close proximity to each other, in violation of distancing norms. The team also noticed that students in most schools were not provided coloured masks and badges, that were to be used to divide students into groups for distancing.
{{/usCountry}}When the HT team visited the government senior secondary school at Kheri Asadh village, on Rohtak-Delhi road, most students were seen sitting in close proximity to each other, in violation of distancing norms. The team also noticed that students in most schools were not provided coloured masks and badges, that were to be used to divide students into groups for distancing.
{{/usCountry}}At the Government Senior Secondary School (for girls), Bohar village, students said that they are being allowed entry only after proper thermal screening. Tanu Nandal, a student of this school, said, “There is thermal scanning at gates and we observe distancing in the classroom. We carry our own water bottles and tiffins. Only one student is allowed to go to the bathroom at a time.”
Manju, a teacher at the Bohar school, said of the 154 students of Classes 9 to 12 in the school, 104 attended classes on Wednesday. “A few parents have not consented to send their wards to school. Meanwhile all teachers in our school have undergone a Covid test.” She added that the education department has not provided them funds for masks or sanitisers.