School bells ring again as classes go fully offline after Covid hiatus

New Delhi: Parents getting their children into school buses after ensuring that they carried sanitiser bottles were seen across Delhi-NCR as schools decked up to receive students with the resumption of offline classes from Friday after over two years — even as several schools decided to reopen from next week and the ones that did on Friday not seeing much of an attendance.

Sudha Acharya, the chairperson of the National Progressive Schools' Conference (NPSC), which has over 120 private schools as its members, said the students were eagerly waiting for this day. "It is after two years that schools are re-reopening and students were excited to get back," she said. Acharya is the principal of ITL Public School, Dwarka. At her school, teachers conducted a special prayer assembly for students.

"Teachers had prepared special performances for students and it's like a festival today. Yesterday, we held a farewell for Class 12 students. At 11 am, we will tune in for the prime minister's Pariksha Pe Charcha," she said.

Meanwhile, children in Delhi government and MCD-run schools also flocked to their campuses — many for the first time since enrolling and others after months. A South MCD teacher said that they repeated instructions related to social distancing, usage of hand sanitisers, etc after every period so that students would remember them.

Another teacher with South MCD added that they saw 30 per cent attendance in their school today but are hopeful that the number will increase in the upcoming weeks.

However, with most schools expecting attendance to pick up only next week, what has left parents happy is the fact that mid-day meals have once again resumed too.

Rashmi, 31, a mother of two said, "I am happy that my children are finally going back to school, it was very difficult to manage them, my other responsibilities and the house in the last two years." She added that her children are also very excited to go back and interact with others their age. Another parent echoed her feelings, saying, "Children have been trapped in their homes for two years with only adults and electronics to entertain them which is not good for their growth."

Significantly, all Delhi government schools have been directed to ensure that children from classes 3 to 9 are put through only light revision classes till April 10 along with every day sessions of the Happiness Class. This direction had come with the government choosing to focus on children's overall wellbeing — both emotional and mental — before resuming the regular curriculum of studies.

And while mid-day meals have also been restarted, the Delhi government has now also resumed the attendance tracking system to spot children in trouble at home and has also decided to kickstart an overarching study to evaluate the effects of the pandemic and school closure on children's mental and emotional health.

with inputs from satvika mahajan