E-Paper
T’gana reports 21% students on 1st day of school reopening
The highest percentage of students who turned up for physical classes was reported from the Hanumakonda district at 34.77%, while the same for Hyderabad stood at 22.12%. The lowest attendance of 18.41% was recorded in Nagarkurnool district.
Telangana on Wednesday reported 21 per cent of total attendance in schools across all districts on the first day of reopening of physical classes, indicating that things are far from normal during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to a district-wise report, the total attendance in government schools was a little higher at 27.45% in Telangana. In private (both government-aided and unaided) schools, the total attendance was only 18.35%.
The highest percentage of students who turned up for physical classes was reported from the Hanumakonda district at 34.77%, while the same for Hyderabad stood at 22.12%. The lowest attendance of 18.41% was recorded in Nagarkurnool district.
In total, out of the state’s 5.2 million schoolchildren, only 1.13 million had attended physical classes on the first day of school reopening. When contacted, officials from the state’s school education department, who did not want to be quoted, said that they are monitoring the situation and refused to comment further.
The Telangana government on August 23 announced the reopening of all schools in the state from September 1. However, a high court ruling on 31 August ( based on public interest litigation) put a brake on the government’s plan, stating that while school managements can resume physical classes, they cannot force parents to send their children to school for the same.
A bench comprising acting Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and justice Vinod Kumar ruled that students have the option to attend both physical or online classes. The high court’s ruling did not allow the state government to reopen state-run residential, tribal welfare and social welfare schools that have hostels.
It also asked the government to submit a report on the preparedness concerning reopening the state-run welfare and residential schools in four weeks. The bench also asked the government to lay down standard operating procedures (SOP) to be followed by all school managements concerning the reopening of the educational institutional institutions in the state.
In response to the high court’s ruling on Tuesday, the Telangana School Education department on the same day issued a memo stating that it is now up to school management to have either online or offline classes for children or a combination of both. It added that any undertaking by parents from managements absolving the latter if any child gets infected with Covid-19 would also not have any “legal effect”.
When contacted, functionaries from private school managements who did not want to be quoted said that there was a mixed response to the resumption of physical classes. “We had physical classes resuming only for the upper classes, and there was 45% attendance today. So, hopefully, things will be better once parents regain confidence in the coming days,” said an official from the Hyderabad Public School’s management, who requested anonymity.
