Schools in Delhi told to involve parents in chalking out reopening plan

This is the first time that schools in Delhi have been asked to involve parents in the decision-making process and engage them in confidence-building measures

With the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) giving the go-ahead for the resumption of in-person learning from September 1 for students of classes 9 to 12, public and private schools have been directed by the authority to hold meetings with parent representatives to finalise their respective reopening plans.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) guidelines issued on Monday have capped the occupancy capacity of classrooms and laboratories at 50%, keeping in mind physical distancing needs (HT Photo)

This is the first time that schools have been asked to involve parents in the decision-making process and engage them in confidence-building measures, including vaccination, among parents’ groups, stakeholders said.

“Head of school/institute are also advised to convene SMC/PTA (school management committee/parent teacher association) meetings as and when required to review the compliance of Covid protocols, attendance of students, and other confidence-building measures,” the DDMA order on Monday said.

Government school principal Sukhbir Singh Yadav, president of Vice- and Principals’ Association of Delhi, said the school would continue to hold in-depth engagements with school management committee members. “We have shared the latest guidelines with SMC members and we will be holding a meeting Tuesday to discuss issues,” said Yadav.

But SMC members say not all of them have been informed of this. Rama Sengar, who is a member of the SMC at Shaheed Amir Chand Government Sarvodaya Vidyalaya (SAC GSV) in Civil Lines, said, “As of now, we have not been approached for any decision-making or meeting. We will be happy to share the concerns of parents.”

Several private schools said they have been updating parents regularly and have routinely sought their feedback on key issues.

Amit Chawla, a member of the parent body at KR Mangalam School, GK-2, said they will be holding a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the reopening. “We feel that the focus should be on vaccination. Vaccination is extremely crucial and the government should focus on vaccinating students as well,” he said.

Many parents are also waiting to see how many of their concerns will be addressed.

Aprajita Gautam, president of the Delhi Parents’ Association, said, “The government issues orders but eventually parents are left on their own. Even today, most parents we spoke to are not in favour of reopening schools.” She said authorities need to decide on what action would be taken against schools that are found flouting social distancing norms and other Covid-19 safety guidelines.

The DDMA guidelines issued on Monday have capped the occupancy capacity of classrooms and laboratories at 50%, keeping in mind physical distancing needs. However, implementing this will be difficult for budget schools that have infrastructure constraints.

Chandrakant Singh, national general secretary, Private Land Public School’s Trust, an association of budget schools, said, “While it will be challenging to accommodate students in schools with space constraints, reopening is important. Children in budget schools come from economically weaker sections and their parents don’t have smartphones or data bundles to aid digital learning. The government should consider reopening the primary sections as well.”

Since schools have been asked to continue with online classes for those who wish to continue with that, principals said conducting classes in a blended mode was going to be challenging.

Malini Narayanan, principal of Army Public School in Shankar Vihar, said, “Many schools do not have the infrastructure to conduct blended classes such as interactive panels and smart boards. In the absence of that, schools will be recording class sessions and sharing them with students.”

In order to ensure the safety of all stakeholders, the National Progressive Schools Conference (NPSC) said its 122 member schools will only encourage vaccinated teaching and non-teaching staff to come to school. While the DDMA order has asked schools to ensure mandatory vaccination of bus drivers and other transportation staff, most schools said for now, they will not be resuming the school bus facility.