Thin attendance as schools reopen after seven months in Ghaziabad and Noida

Ghaziabad/Noida: Government and private schools in Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar reopened for students of classes 9 to 12 on Monday after remaining shut for nearly

Ghaziabad/Noida: Government and private schools in Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar reopened for students of classes 9 to 12 on Monday after remaining shut for nearly seven months in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, most of the schools in the two districts recorded thin attendance as a majority of parents are still wary of sending their wards to schools.

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According to officials of the Ghaziabad district education department, the first day saw an overall attendance of about 10 to 15%. However, the officials said they expected that the number of students at the schools will rise in coming days.

In GB Nagar, the government schools witnessed better attendance at 39% of the permitted seats, while the overall attendance in the private schools of the district was mere 11%, officials said.

According to the Ghaziabad education department officials, about 50 of 165 private schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian School Certificate Examinations (ICSE) opened on Monday, while all 226 schools affiliated to the state board -- whether aided, unaided and government-run -- opened up.

The Uttar Pradesh government on October 10 had issued directions for reopening of schools (for classes 9 to 12 in the first phase) and also released a set of precautionary measures to be taken at schools in the wake of the pandemic. The government order had also said that students should be allowed to attend classes only after written consent of their parents while online classes would continue.

“We opened only classes 10 and 12, and only 17 students came to the school for the classes. The online classes were also held, and the offline classes were made available to other students online. Since we will close down from October 22, we expect that the present days are primarily a test-run about how we run our systems as per standard operating procedure,” said Jyoti Gupta, director of Delhi Public School, Sahibabad.

“Once we open up again after the festivals, we will also start transport facility, and expect that the attendance will rise further,” she added.

Many schools had put up posters welcoming children to school and had even marked circles on the premises where students were checked for body temperature and other Covid-like symptoms.

Some schools said that they opened up on Monday but no students arrived. “We have about 350 students in classes 10 and 12. We had conducted two surveys, and majority of parents were in favour of opening schools from November 2 after the festivals. In the meantime, we have also started with the Covid-19 test of our staff members and have taken all preventive measures in the wake of the pandemic,” said Trilok Singh Bisht, principal of Delhi Public School Ghaziabad, Vasundhara.

Office bearers of the Independent Schools Federation of India (ISFI), having about 100 member schools in Ghaziabad, said that about 32 of their member schools reopened on Monday.

“We had attendance in different schools in the range of 17-100 students, which means about 15% students attended the physical classes. All our member schools have put in place the SOP and have already started with testing of staff for Covid-19. We are expecting that the attendance will rise after Durga Puja festivals, and will rise further after Diwali. With mandatory use of masks and social distancing, we do not expect much issue in students attending schools,” said Subhash Jain, president of ISFI.

Ravi Dutt, Ghaziabad district inspector of schools (DIOS), said that the estimated attendance in all schools was about 10-15% on the first day. He further said that officials of the district administration and the education department also carried out inspection at various schools to check if the SOP has been put in place.

“The overall attendance was thin in the range of about 10-15%. But more students arrived at government schools. Our officials carried out inspection at different schools about the adherence to SOP, and we found that schools have taken steps,” Dutt said.

The parents, on the other hand, said that they did not send their children as the online classes have emerged as preferred mode in the ongoing pandemic situation.

“My daughter is in class 10 and she has preferred to stay home for her online studies. We feel that once the vaccine is made available, more parents would be willing to send children to schools,” said Ruby Singh, a resident of Arihant Harmony, Indirapuram.

The parents’ association said that they were expecting low turnout of students. “It is because the parents are still worried. Further, the schools are taking consent forms from parents. Instead, the responsibility of students should be taken by schools or the administration. We conducted a survey among about 200 parents and about 90% of them are unwilling to send their children to schools till Covid-19 vaccine is rolled out,” said Vivek Tyagi, spokesperson of Ghaziabad Parents’ Association.

Even the students, who attended schools, said that several activities such as daily assembly, lunch break and games were missing in their schools. “I was very enthusiastic to visit school to see my friends. But, it was very disappointing for us that we’ve to fall in with different atmosphere here due to the implementation of safety norms. I’ll now avoid coming to the school,” said a class 11 student of Government Inter Girls’ School in Noida’s Sector 51.

Echoing similar views, a class 10 student of a private school in Noida Sector 11, said, “The saddest part for me is that my best friend has been put in other group as the class has been split into two different groups.”

In Noida, UP board schools record better attendance

Neeraj Kumar Pandey, DIOS, GB Nagar, said that some of the UP board schools in the district recorded nearly 80% attendance of permitted seats. “But, the overall attendance in 153 schools, affiliated to UP state education board, was recorded 39% in the allotted half capacity. Similarly, a few private schools affiliated to CBSE recorded nearly 30% attendance. But, since most of the private schools didn’t open today, the overall attendance in 181 CBSE schools in the district was reduced to mere 11%,” he said.

Pandey further said that children were not allowed to bring any eatables as there was no lunch break. “Even sharing the water bottles and stationery is not allowed. We have asked the parents to pick and drop their children in their own vehicles. Schools, which were open today, ran in two shifts and they have been permitted to call only 50% of students on alternate days,” Pandey said.

GB Nagar district magistrate Suhas LY said that the contrast in attendance between private schools and UP board schools clearly indicates the quantum of apprehension in different cross-sections of the society. “We’ll keep monitoring the activities and safety measures of all the schools, irrespective of the attendance percentage there. On the first day, some parents of the children, who have given their consent for offline classes, also visited the schools, which is a positive sign for increase in students’ appearance in coming days. The schools had been closed in the state on March 13 this year after the Covid-19 outbreak,” he said.

However, the parents are still reluctant to send their wards to schools. “We are not eager to submit consent letters immediately. Since the schools lack infrastructure to ensure a seating plan with social distancing, it will better for us to adapt a ‘wait and watch’ policy,” said Karun Singh, a parent residing in Noida Sector 77.

Corroborating similar views, Deepak Kumar, father of two students in Amity School (Noida), said that there is no point in risking the lives of children till theory classes are live streamed. “But, we’ll have no option other than to send my children to schools for practical classes. However, we have yet not given consent letters in this connection,” he said.

When contacted, Renu Singh, principal of Amity school, said that the classes in the school could not begin as consent letters from the parents are still awaited. “However, we kicked off many other activities on the campus today. We are trying to convince the parents about the essentiality of practical classes, particularly for the students appearing in class 10 and 12 board examinations,” she said.

DPS Noida said that it is geared up to begin with the trial run of opening the school from Tuesday. “The school begins the trial run with a limited number of class 12 students tomorrow followed by a small number of class 10 students the next day. The students will only be allowed after taking the consent by their parents. The management and the teachers are in the process of convincing and assuring the parents of the safety measures being taken by the school. The school will follow all the norms laid down by the government,” said Kamini Bhasin, principal of DPS Noida.