With the State government issuing directions that only students whose parents have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be allowed entry into schools, managements of many institutions are expecting physical attendance to dip from Monday. Most schools, private and government, have asked parents to furnish their vaccination certificates on December 6 itself.
Parents and teachers have expressed concern over how the new rules will affect the learning outcome of students if they are unable to attend physical classes for an extended period. While some private schools have asked students whose parents are not fully vaccinated to attend online classes, others are in a fix as they do not have adequate teachers to conduct both offline and online classes.
No online sessions
Government school teachers that The Hindu spoke to said students were likely to miss classes as they would be unable to conduct online sessions. However, many said that attendance would be affected only for a few days and that all the parents could get their second shot in a week or so.
H.K. Manjunath, president of the Karnataka State High School Assistant Masters’ Association, said, “Parents of many students in government schools were not vaccinated. We had been asked to collect the data, which was then submitted to the closest primary health centre. Health authorities are now persuading such parents to get jabbed.”
Lokesh Talikatte, State unit president of the Recognised Unaided Private Schools’ Association, Karnataka, is expecting only a marginal dip in attendance next week. “As soon as the circular was issued, our school management members got in touch with parents who were not fully vaccinated. These parents have assured us that they will get their second jab next week,” he said.
‘Conduct camps in schools’
D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said many students were likely to miss out on classes as their parents have not been vaccinated. “Even before offline classes started, we issued an advisory to parents asking them to get vaccinated as a precautionary measure. While a majority of parents have taken the first shot, many are yet to take the second one,” he said.
He suggested that the State Government conduct vaccination camps in schools so that more parents could be covered.
Basavaraj Gurikar, president of the All India Teacher Federation, said the State Government had taken the right decision but acknowledged that the rules would affect students in rural and tribal areas more than their peers in cities and smaller towns. “The Government must establish special camps and ensure that these students who need education the most are not left out,” he said.
