Reopening of schools should not be fatal

Priyanka Saurabh
Schools in Kerala, Karnataka, and Assam have been reopened from 1 January. All Government schools and coaching centers across Bihar will be opened from 4 January 2021 as per the order of the Bihar government. Schools will be opened in Maharashtra for students from 9th to 12th standard from January 4. These will strictly follow the COVID-19 guidelines. Earlier schools in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Sikkim have already been partially opened. Although some states have decided not to open schools yet, the Government of the national capital Delhi says that it is not right to open schools until the COVID-19 vaccine is introduced. Given Corona’s new strain in Mumbai, it has decided to keep the school closed till January 15. There will be neither secondary and higher secondary examinations in West Bengal this year, nor schools will open.
Now when schools and colleges are being opened slowly, what kind of precautions need to be taken, as Corona epidemic is not yet over. Universities and schools across the country were closed in mid-March when the central government announced the closure of educational institutions across the country as part of measures to prevent spread of coronavirus infection. After that, a nationwide lockdown was implemented on 25 March. From June 8, the Government started gradually reducing restrictions under ‘unlock’. Amid the epidemic, there is some opposition across the country to open schools and PUCs, while many people believe that opening of schools and colleges with security measures has become especially necessary in rural areas, as online education is mostly absent.
Closure of schools worldwide to curb the spread of COVID-19 has revealed several health risks, with the most impacting on children. Many children missed school meals. Negative effects of poor mental health were seen on them. According to data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on the dashboard of the National Council for Disease Control, 11.89 per cent of COVID-19 cases in India are under 20 years of age. School closures in India have affected 247 million children enrolled in primary and secondary education and 28 million children who were attending pre-school education at Anganwadi centers. COVID-19 poses a serious threat to India’s effort in neonatal mortality (NMR) and infant mortality (IMR), which haA seen improvement in recent years. Government schools across the country have already lacked better access to quality water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities and are closed.
Now when students and teachers return to school, with their incomplete education, the school will have to be ready to focus on health and well-being of the communities. It will be a big challenge to complete their learning gap with rotational cleanliness. Students have four months. This year there will be examinations in a changed pattern as the syllabus has been reduced by 30 percent for classes X and XII. Board exams will be taken only on a reduced syllabus. Parents are also concerned as before these exams, schools attached to different boards of education are preparing to take the pre-board examinations. Pre-board exams will be taken online. School people say that by taking online examinations.
At this time, parents should not only provide full support to children in preparing for school exams but should also teach them how to face life’s challenges. The 10th and 12th examinations are an important turning point in life. These exams determine the future of students. Passing students without exams would have played with their future. It is not a good move to give ‘corona certificate’ to students without examinations. In the Corona era, virtual classrooms have also made the Internet an important link for education, but we have also learned that a large section of the country has neither a smartphone nor a computer or internet facility, from which we came to know that online education is right in a time of crisis, but it cannot be made a substitute for traditional knowledge classes. We will have to open schools, otherwise, the gap of education inequality already going on will increase further.
Worldwide, 1 in 9 children and adolescents reported COVID-19 infection. These numbers break the myth that children are rarely affected by disease, which is prevalent as an epidemic. But obstruction in key services and increasing poverty rates is the biggest threat to children and if the crisis persists for a long time, it will have a profound impact on children’s education, health, nutrition, and well-being. Children’s vulnerabilities increased during this period, as health services were disrupted and schools remained closed, giving children free mid-day meals. Nevertheless, we have to take full precaution so that along with the school opening, we do not make any big mistake.