The government’s decision to permit students of Classes 9 and 11 to return to schools from February 8 is something that most institutions expected.
While schools reopened for Classes 10 and 12 on January 19, the School Education Department has rolled out the reduced syllabus in the last few weeks for the current academic year for Classes 9 to 12.
Ashok Shankar, general secretary, CBSE Schools Management Association, says that in the next one week, the schools will ask parents of students of Classes 9 and 11 whether they will send their children back to the campus. “We expect many students to start attending in-person classes, as is the case with students of Classes 10 and 12. Many students have said they are happy to be back on campus, and we are ready to welcome more students with all safety measures in place,” he says.
Based on how many students are expected to return, schools will have to start preparing their campus for the additional strength and scale up safety measures. When schools reopened for Classes 10 and 12, the government issued a Standard Operating Procedure to ensure the health and safety of students and teachers, “While mask-wearing has been easy to implement, we are constantly reminding the students of the need to maintain physical distancing during hours in between classes so that they do not move around or sit together in groups,” says a teacher of a private matriculation school. The Standard Operating Procedure has mandated that not more than 25 students be seated in a classroom at a time and attendance not be made compulsory since schools that were running online classes can continue them.
“More clarity is needed at the earliest on the academic schedule for the next two months. We still have no information about when the board exams will happen or how many working days we will have for the current academic year,” says Patric Raymond, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Graduate Teachers’ Federation. This will help teachers plan their schedule better for the next few months and give the students a better direction, he reasons.
Published - February 01, 2021 02:20 am IST
