Not all uniform: Most govt schools to reopen today, pvt ones hold out
This is the first time since March last year that schools are allowed to hold in-person classes for all. However, hybrid classes will continue as well, after the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) instructed that online learning be encouraged.
Many government schools across the Capital will resume in-person classes from November 1, but most private schools will only open after Diwali.
Sudha Acharya, who is the chairperson of the National Progressive Schools’ Conference, said over 120 schools (private schools) under it will reopen after Diwali.
“Many schools have Diwali holidays from November 2 onwards. So, all our schools have decided to reopen after Diwali,” she said.
Acharya, who is also the principal of ITL Public School in Dwarka, said that from November 8 her school will call one section across all classes for the first week.
“On an average, there are around 40 students in each section, and we will call one section from Nursery to Class 8 in the first week. Based on the response, we will call two sections per class in the second week,” she said.
This is the first time since March last year that schools are allowed to hold in-person classes for all. However, hybrid classes will continue as well, after the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) instructed that online learning be encouraged.
With in-person classes being allowed for all, schools said they will have utilise all their resources.
“We have reorganised our laboratories to use as classrooms. We will also have to change our timetable because we have teachers who teach classes 8 and 9 and since lessons will run in hybrid mode, we have to arrange accordingly,” Acharya said.
Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School in Rohini, said they will reopen from November 8. “We have sent out consent forms for classes 6 to 8; primary school will be started later in a phased manner. Most of the top private schools are opening after Diwali. We need to get consent and arrange timetables, and all this will take some time,” said Arora.
Awadhesh Kumar Jha, principal of Sarvodaya Co-ed Vidyalaya Sector-8 Rohini, said they will be calling 50% of parents of students of Nursery to Class 8 on November 1 and the rest on November 2.
“We want parents of younger children to see the safety measures installed by us so that it gives them some confidence. This is particularly important for those children who were admitted to our school this year. We will continue the process of acquiring consent on Monday and Tuesday. If this is completed in these two days, we will start school from Wednesday and resume full-fledged classes after Diwali,” he said.
Sukhbir Singh Yadav, president of the government school principals’ association, said they will call middle school students Monday onwards for his government school in Rohini. “We have asked our students to come with a printed copy of no-objection certificate in the given format Monday onwards and have only called classes 6, 8, and 10 on Monday and 7, 9, and 11 on Tuesday. We will call primary school students after Diwali as our primary school wing has vaccination centres. Most government school principals will call students on an alternate class basis, and most will start with primary school students next week onwards,” he said.