Amid a spike in Covid-19 cases in the national Capital, attendance in schools across Delhi is starting to dip even as schools take measures to sensitise students about vaccination with the hope that learning continues uninterrupted in the coming year.
Schools said that attendance had started fluctuating and attributed it to the uncertainty surrounding the new Covid variant, Omicron, along with inclement weather conditions. Many schools that were earlier planning to hold physical classes during the upcoming winter break will also switch to online classes to complete the syllabus, keeping in mind the rise in Covid cases. Along with these precautionary measures, some schools are also supplementing classes with webinars and orientation sessions, emphasising the merits of vaccination.
Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School in Rohini, said that the school was treading carefully while planning future activities, considering the drop in attendance. While attendance hovered between 60-70% last week, there has been a nearly 10% drop this week with attendance dipping to 50% now.
“There is a big question mark on the weeks ahead due to Omicron. There has been a drop in attendance by around 10% in the last week. With so much uncertainty, we are not very sure about the manner in which we should plan ahead. We don’t know how to plan the final exams and other activities since there is uncertainty pertaining to school closure. We are thinking of all possibilities including possible school closure while planning activities,” said Arora.
{{/usCountry}}“There is a big question mark on the weeks ahead due to Omicron. There has been a drop in attendance by around 10% in the last week. With so much uncertainty, we are not very sure about the manner in which we should plan ahead. We don’t know how to plan the final exams and other activities since there is uncertainty pertaining to school closure. We are thinking of all possibilities including possible school closure while planning activities,” said Arora.
{{/usCountry}}In view of the Covid situation, the school has also reached out to a hospital to conduct awareness sessions regarding vaccination for children aged above 15 years and is exploring the possibility of setting up vaccination centres for students on campus. “We have tied up with a hospital for opening a vaccination centre for students within the school. We had opened a centre for staff and the public alike earlier as well. Since students in grades 10 to 12 are over the age of 15, we want to facilitate vaccination for them at the school itself,” said Arora.
The school will be conducting a set of webinars for the awareness of students and parents before the actual vaccination process begins in January. “We are thinking of starting webinars in collaboration with a hospital starting from tomorrow so that parents and students gain confidence and are able to get their vaccination-related queries resolved,” said Arora.
Tania Joshi, principal of The Indian School, said that the school had been receiving queries from parents wondering what would happen to in-person classes in the face of rising Covid cases and wanted their children to get vaccinated before sending them to school. Joshi said that while students in certain classes were attending school in good numbers due to ongoing tests, very few students in other classes were coming to school. “We are getting queries from parents who are concerned about rising Covid cases. Many are waiting to vaccinate children before sending them to school. If the positivity cases rate rises, parents will stop sending their children,” said Joshi.
Aprajita Gautam, president, Delhi Parents Association, said that while parents wanted children to get back to routine school life, they were worried about the rise in Omicron cases due to which they were fearful about sending children to school. “After a gap of six months, cases are on the rise again. The fear and uncertainty are back once again. Parents are once again unsure about sending children to school. The initiation of vaccination might ease concerns for students in Class 10 and above after January, but children in other grades will continue to be unvaccinated,” said Gautam.
A spokesperson from Apeejay Education said that Apeejay educational institutes, which include schools, would continue to organise camps on campus to facilitate vaccination. Earlier this year, the chain of schools had organised vaccination camps for its staff, parents, and the general public. “We look forward to working with our health partners and the government to continue to organise camps at our institutions to achieve 100% vaccination of all eligible age groups,” said a spokesperson.
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