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Delhi

What is the logic? ask parents as experts say keeping schools shut now is a 'crime'

What is the logic? ask parents as experts say keeping schools shut now is a crime
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New Delhi: "Disappointment" and "anger" were the first reactions that thousands of parents to school children in the Capital felt as they heard the news that the Delhi Disaster Management Authority had decided to keep schools shut in the city for yet another week even as the authority decided to reopen malls, cinemas, offices and markets.

While the Delhi government has made its position abundantly clear with Deputy CM Manish Sisodia urging the DDMA to reopen schools at the earliest, parents, especially working mothers, told Millennium Post that they are now at a "breaking point" and that the singular point of their disappointment arises from the DDMA's opaque decision-making process. Tanya Aggarwal, a lawyer and mother to a six-year-old child, said, "What factors they considered or not considered or who are their experts — none of this is disclosed... It is a total black box... If somebody gives you a reason, you can have a conversation with them, but if there is complete silence, how do you even have that conversation?"

Meanwhile, South Delhi's Hansika Singh, an insurance worker, said that this was now a breaking point for working mothers like her, adding that her 5-year-old daughter had not even seen her school since

she started her formal education. She too added that the principal point of their frustration is the lack of reasoning from the DDMA.

Aggarwal, who was among the delegation of parents that met with Sisodia on Wednesday and amassed over 1,600 signatures for their petition to reopen schools, asked that while all experts and institutions across the world and in India are recommending schools to be reopened, why is it not happening in Delhi. "Why is Delhi about to get the gold medal for longest school closure in the world? Is it only the DDMA and its chairperson and members that know best? Aren't they being arbitrary? Again, I go back to my point. What is the reasoning? How can everything else be opened and not schools? Tell us why… What special information do they have that the rest of the world doesn't?" she asked.

And even as Simran Khara, CEO of a publishing house and a mother to a primary school child said that she and other parents are planning to regroup and figure out next steps after the "absurd decision", she said, "To even put forward another MoU, we need to first know why they are doing this? Experts world over have said it is okay to reopen. What is the logic? Explain the rationale."

Meanwhile, Centre for Policy Research president Yamini Aiyar told Millennium Post that the continued closure was "a crime" and that it was "a shame that DDMA has taken this decision" which will deprive the students from learning.

"The Primary school closure — for two years — is the longest in the world. The DDMA has allowed a gathering of 200 for weddings and presumably children do attend such functions and such large gatherings and that is alright with the L-G and the DDMA. It clearly shows what the leaders prioritise in this city," she said.

But even as a small section of parents have said it was safer to keep children at home, the toll of the closure is wreaking havoc in working mothers' lives, who are having to bear the burden of giving time to their work and extra time to supplement their children's learning. While Hansika said that children are starting to stammer and grind their teeth in their sleep due to the closures, Aggarwal said that it has been a problem that schools are refusing to see.

While the market associations and traders are lobbying for their economic interests, school managements should be doing the same, says Aggarwal, adding, "The sector should be protesting. Have you seen the schools ask for it? They are busy fighting for full fees in courts. Schools need to step up."Even teachers and school principals have started to raise their voices now. Principal of Rajkiya Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Dr LK Dubey, said schools should reopen as the situation is under control and most students want to return to classrooms while teachers are also of the same opinion. Class VIII teacher, A.K. Verma at Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Lajpat Nagar said, "If workplaces can open, shopping malls and markets can where even children go then why not schools."

Meanwhile, parents like Jyotsna Sharma say, "It has been nothing short of trauma. I'm a working mom living in a nuclear setup. I'm married to a litigator, who has to be in virtual court, while I have to be in my own meetings. We have been hanging by a thread managing virtual school and our respective works."

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