Students were slowly getting back into the groove of attending classes on campus when Bengaluru witnessed a second wave of COVID-19 cases. In the wake of a steep rise in positive cases over the last week, especially in Bengaluru, many private schools have decided to suspend classes on campus, and continue only with online sessions.
School managements also decided to take this decision after attendance on campus started to drop with worried parents choosing to keep their children at home as a precaution.
According to Mansoor Ali Khan, member, board of management, Delhi Public Group of Schools, when campuses welcomed back students from classes VIII to XII, attendance was as high as 60%. However, it has now dropped to around 30%. “As parents are also not keen to send their children to school, we plan to revert to online classes,” he said.
A parent, Praveen S., said he had stopped his son from attending classes on campus as he was worried about the health of his elderly mother who lives with them. “Children will recover quickly. But if they catch the infection, they are likely to pass it on to the elderly who may not recover from COVID-19,” he said.
Schools in Karnataka closed in March 2020, and only started reopening their doors in phases to students from classes VI to XII from January 1, 2021. Nooraine Fazal, founder-director of Inventure Academy, said they stopped conducting offline classes last week. “Only science laboratory sessions are being conducted on campus. The school had started physical classes for students in standards IX and XII, which have now been suspended,” she said.
Exam schedules
D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said schools had been directed to conduct examinations for classes VI to IX and XI by April 15. “But now, because of the second wave, we are asking them to wrap up examinations by the first week of April,” he said. He added that conducting examinations during summer was not a feasible option, particularly for students in north Karnataka because of summer heat levels.
Parents too are relieved as they do not want their children to venture out of their homes with the rise in the COVID-19 cases. Anushree S., whose son studies in class IX, said, “The school when it restarted physical classes had given our children the option of continuing with online classes. But my son was pestering me to send him to school as his classmates were attending classes. I will be glad if the school management itself suspends physical classes,” she said.
However, none of the government and aided schools in the State has decided to suspend classes yet. Currently, physical classes for students from standards VI to second year pre-university are being conducted on campus.
