THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Over 12 lakh students reached schools on the first day, when the schools in the state were partially reopened after a 19-month gap caused by the pandemic. The attendance, considering the staggered reopening, was around 80% of the total strength.
As per the ‘back to school’ guidelines prepared by the education department in consultation with health experts, children were welcomed at the entrance by their teachers and ushered to their respective classrooms. Surprisingly, the routine scene of kids crying out for parents was missing. “We are no strangers. We know each other through online classes. So, there is no question of being scared today as it used to be in the normal days in the past,” said Bindhu, a primary school teacher of Cottonhill school Thiruvananthapuram.
As many as 131 schools could not reopen on Monday owing to various reasons. While some schools function as relief camps, many are inundated, and several others are in containment zones. A few schools remained shut due to local hartals. As many as 12,08,290 students reached schools across the state on the opening day. Of these, 11,130 are Class I students.
The government has directed schools with more than 1,000 students to conduct classes by allowing only 25% of the students to turn up on any given day. “Considering the restrictions in force, only half of the students were supposed to attend school on the first day. There is overwhelming response from parents and students,” director of generation education Jeevan Babu said.
General education minister V Sivankutty inaugurated the state-level School Pravesanothsavam at the Cottonhill school. The minister said there was no need to feel scared about sending children to school as the government has put in place a robust mechanism to ensure that schools function by strictly adhering to Covid-19 protocol.
“The government has received support from all sections in the society for the school reopening. More than six lakh students have newly joined government and aided schools this year. The government has taken all steps to face all challenges,” the minister said.
As clarified earlier, attendance is not must during this phase of school reopening. Students have been split into different batches so that the number of students occupying a bench could be limited to maximum two. Those who don’t wish to attend the school now have the option to continue their studies using the online system in place.
Classes started on Monday for Class I to VII, X and XII. Classes for the rest of the standards would begin on November 15. Close to 43 lakh students are supposed to reach schools in two phases. Of them, 6,07,702 are newcomers. According to sources, there was an increase of close to 30,000 students who took admission to first standard in government and aided schools this year, compared to last year.
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