Private schools reimagine the classroom space ahead of a possible reopening in July

Gurugram After staying closed for over two months now, schools in Haryana are expected to reopen in July. While private schools in the city await specific guidelines

Gurugram After staying closed for over two months now, schools in Haryana are expected to reopen in July. While private schools in the city await specific guidelines from the government, some of them have started reimagining the classroom space and working on protocols that would be in place as and when schools reopen. Many parents, however, continue to be sceptical about sending their children back to school as Covid-19 cases rise steadily in the city.

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SOP for schools

Excelsior American School, Sector 43, has created a standard operating procedure (SOP) which will be in place whenever the school reopens. As per the SOP, school buses and staff will be sanitised before leaving the campus, the staff will wear gloves and masks at all times. Students will occupy two seats in the bus and will be directed to keep their hands on the lap and not touch any surfaces, among other measures.

Pranita Verma, director, admissions and marketing, said that the school’s average class strength was around 15, which would work in its favour while ensuring physical distancing within the classroom space. “Physical distancing within the classroom might not be a major challenge for us. However, for other common places such as the cafeteria, we are planning to employ more staff to handle operations so that distancing norms are complied with during lunch hours,” said Verma.

The school plans to have sanitisation stations at every floor while a sanitisation room for groceries has already been created. Verma said that the school will be holding workshops prior to the resumption of classes to sensitise children against touching surfaces.

Other schools, meanwhile, are treading cautiously and awaiting specific directions from the government before they can take a call on the resumption of classes on premises. “We don’t know by when we will be able to open the schools again. The situation is changing daily and in case there’s a spike, as expected, I doubt if the government will even ask schools to open,” said Aditi Misra, principal, Delhi Public School, Sector 45.

Misra said that even parents might have concerns about sending children to school before the actual flattening of the curve begins. “Parents are also a little tense about the manner in which schools will be opened. Schools saw a spiking of cases in France and Germany after opening. We will need to factor these things in,” said Misra.

Preparing for the Boards

The schools, meanwhile, will be opening for board exams from July 1 to 15 and has been sanitised for the same. It has also started prepping up infrastructure to meet the demands of the changing nature of imparting education. “Arrangements have been made for having stronger Wi-Fi signals in schools, in case there’s an arrangement of having some children in school, while others stay at home. We could record the interaction and make it available for those at home or we can work out an arrangement were classes are beamed directly into the homes of children,” said Misra.

Enforcing social distancing

Misra said that while physical distancing norms could be put in place, the bigger challenge lied in ensuring that students complied with distancing norms amid the changing classroom dynamics. “Little children hug their teachers as soon as they enter the classroom. Telling children to not hug their teachers will be difficult. These are ingrained everyday experiences and we will need to start training for dealing with such things months before the actual school starts. Parents will have to talk with them often. Teachers will have to talk to them in the course of their lessons and convey, ‘I love you but I can’t hug you’,” she said.

The school has plans of investing in posters with messages that will be plastered across the school. “We will have messages all over which will make the child feel loved and wanted without being touched. The element of touch will have to go,” said Misra.

Kunal Bhadoo, director of Kunskapsskolan Schools, said that based on the government guidelines, the school would be assessing the population of children and teachers in the school that come from Delhi and other NCR cities and consult parents. “We will have to go through the SOP that will be issued by the government and see how well-equipped we are to enforce the measures. We will have to assess the situation in NCR before reopening schools. If there are students and teachers in containment zones, we will have to plan accordingly,” said Bhadoo.

Infrastructure challenges

Bhadoo said that implementation of physical distancing practices would be challenging, with infrastructure becoming a possible bottleneck. The school has been working on mock classroom setups with physical distancing norms in place on the lines of the SOPs being implemented in other countries. “We have been looking at the best practices and SOPs that countries abroad have implemented. While working on mock classroom setups, we realised that even with huge rooms in schools, we would only be able to accommodate 12-13 children in a classroom. For a school like ours, this would mean splitting the classroom in two,” said Bhadoo. The school has 20-25 children in a classroom.

Bhadoo said that based on government guidelines, schools will have to see if they are opting for a mechanism of having classes on alternate days or following a blended model of both online and offline classes. He said that the school would have to factor the interests of the teachers also. “Do teachers feel safe about coming to school? Would they want to come to school and risk community transmission? We will have to consider these questions. If the situation doesn’t improve, we might opt for a blended model with both online and offline classes, said Bhadoo.

Parents speak

Most parents, especially those with children in smaller classes, expressed concerns over the reopening of schools amid rising Covid-19 cases in the city. Rakshanda Fatima, a parent, said that it was better for schools to continue with online classes for younger children. “We can expect older children to maintain distancing norms and hygiene but monitoring younger children all the time is going to be a difficult task,” said Fatima.

Tripti Singh, another parent, said that parents were worried with the rise in cases and it was too soon to open schools. “Schools have to start at some point but convincing parents to send children so soon will not be an easy task for schools. Any student, teacher, or staff member could be a carrier. I feel that schools should wait till the end of June and see how the situation develops,” said Singh, adding that online classes could continue for some more time.