Assam: Schools, Colleges Reopen After 6 Months; Attendance Remains Low

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Assam schools and colleges reopened after six months on 21 September 2020, Monday. The attendance recorded on the first day was thin.

The teachers blamed the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic for the low attendance of students of classes 9 and 12 on the first day of reopening of schools and colleges.

Earlier the Assam government released a SOP which stated: “Classes for 9 and 12 will be on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. While for 10 and 11 students, classes will be on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.”

The SOP released will be applicable for a period of 15 days. While as a precautionary measure, 50% of teaching and non-teaching staff have been restricted in the educational institutions in Assam.

B Kalyan Chakravarthy, principal secretary to the state secondary education department, reviewed the first-day situation, said, “From the psychological point of view, it has been a great relief for the students. The children were extremely well-behaved, maintained distancing, and other COVID protocols on campuses. It was a great beginning today. We are constantly in touch with the district magistrates to ensure that offline classes can continue smoothly.”

During the first day, face Masks were compulsory for the students attending schools and colleges. At the entrance of the campus, thermal Screening was done for both the students and staff members. Each student was allotted one bench for sitting inorder to adhere to the social distancing guidelines.

Taking the safety of their wards, most guardians chose not to send their children to attend schools in Guwahati, despite the government directives being followed by government-run schools and colleges.

While talking about the reopening of schools and attendance, K Chanda, principal of South Point School, Guwahati, said that less than 10% of the students came to school on the first day.

“Many of the guardians want to see the response on the first day. Maybe from tomorrow, some more students will come to attend the classes”, he added.

The education department directed the schools to take the consent of guardians for students to attend the classes. On the first day of school, many students in the state were not allowed to attend the classes as they were not carrying the “no objection certificates.”

As the state education minister stated earlier that online learning would be continued even after schools and colleges are reopened in the state. Private schools did not feel the urgency to reopen the institutes as they are well connected with an online mode for regular learning.

However, due to the lack of adequate infrastructure for online classes in rural areas, it became an utmost need of an hour to begin offline classes for students of rural areas.

Student Remarks on Reopening of Schools, Colleges

Bishal Badyakar, a class IX student of Howly Higher Secondary School said “We were mostly connected with the teachers through WhatsApp to clear our doubts. Since internet connectivity and IT infrastructure are not up to the mark in rural areas, it was much needed for us to reopen the offline classes. Otherwise, we would have lagged,”

He further added it was a new normal experience after the COVID-19 situation as students and teachers took part in the teaching-learning process by following strict rules of social distancing throughout the school hours.

Atanu Chakraborty, Maligaon Student of Class 12 from Railway Higher Secondary School was among those who are still not ready to take the risk of attending offline classes.

“I did not attend my classes due to the Covid-19 threat. Since online classes are going on and I need not attend practical classes, attending offline classes was unnecessary,” said Atanu Chakraborty.

Pankaj Das, All Assam Private Schools’ Association president shared his views on reopening schools: “Personally, I welcome the decision to open the school tentatively with an SOP for 15 days for students of secondary and higher secondary sections and then revise the SOP as required. “

He added, “We have seen that worldwide, mercifully, children have not been impacted in big numbers by Covid-19 and in Assam, severe cases requiring intensive care are almost nil. In fact, in our country, 2 lakh children die every year of diarrhea. I will send my daughter, who studies in Class X, to school. I do not fear she will bring the disease to my family as we, the adults, are already doing our chores outside.”