Amid rains, thin attendance on day 1 but pupils excited to return to school after a long hiatus

New Delhi: Schools in Delhi witnessed thin attendance on the first day of resumption of physical classes for grades 9-12 after a long hiatus due to COVID-19, with record rains on Wednesday and a wait-and-watch approach keeping many students away.

Wearing masks and carrying umbrellas as heavy rains lashed Delhi, the students returned to classes under strict COVID-19 protocol, even as some schools have decided to call the children only after a few weeks.

Students are required to submit parents' consent for attending school and all classes are to be continued both offline and online. As part of safety guidelines, 50 per cent students are allowed per classroom.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said children had come to schools despite rains which showed that they were waiting eagerly for the schools to reopen.

"After 17 months schools have reopened and students will again sit and study in classrooms and have fun with their friends. And yes, children have come to schools despite rains and it is obvious they were waiting eagerly for the schools to reopen," Sisodia said on Twitter.

At a government school in Mayur Vihar, teachers had decorated the entrance with Rangoli and even performed a welcome dance for

students.

Many teachers said that rains may have affected attendance and hoped that numbers would pick in the coming days.

"Online classes are not as fun as being in a classroom with our friends and teachers. I missed coming to school," Harish, a student of SKV No 2 in the Punjabi Bagh area said. There are about seven lakh students in the government schools for classes IX to XII.

Government schools operate in two shifts — morning and evening.

The head of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Vasundhara Enclave, Usha Rajput, said, "We were completely ready to reopen. We sanitised the campus and our staff has been vaccinated. Students were extremely happy to be back in school. Now all their queries and doubts can be addressed promptly."

"Students were also missing school. The third wave is a concern but we are hopeful that if all precautions are taken, we will be able to function smoothly," she said.

Rupa, a teacher at a government school in Tilak Nagar said, "There was less turnout due to rains. But we are expecting more students from tomorrow."

Sisodia said that teaching will not begin immediately once schools start.

"In the first two-three days, work will be done on their social-emotional well-being through dialogue so that the children can be brought out of this mentally unsettling phase," he said.

And while students are happy to be back in school and able to meet their friends, some were disappointed about not being able to sit next to their friends in class due to social distancing norms. However, one students in a government school said, "This is the new normal and we will have to adjust."