Cautious response of students to school re-opening in city on Day-1
   Date :05-Jan-2021

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 Staff at Rajendra High School, Nandanvan, collecting consent letter of parents from a student. Students were given entry only after submitting consent letter, hand sanitisation, and wearing of face-mask. (Pic by Satish Raut)
 
 
Staff Reporter :
 
 
After a gap of almost 10 months, schools in the city re-opened on Monday. However, there was a cautious response from students and their parents, as COVID-19 pandemic is still not over. The response was better in case of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) schools than that in other schools in the city. As per the norms, consent letter from parents was a necessary condition for allowing students to sit in classrooms. At the entrance of schools, school staff checked if the students had brought duly signed consent letter from the parents.
 

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Also, the school staff checked temperature of students at the entrance, and asked students to make use of hand-sanitisers. Later on, school staff addressed the students and issued instructions relating to COVID-19 guidelines. In classrooms, arrangement was made to ensure that only one student sat on one bench. Teachers, non-teaching staff and students all wore face-masks. Many students carried their own ‘safety kit’ including hand-sanitiser, extra mask, paper soap, handkerchief. Students were happy that they were meeting their friends in person after a long gap. At the same time, some felt that COVID-19 had changed the way they used to share tiffin or chit-chat with each other during recess or before school began. It was a different experience for teachers too. Apart from taking precautions for themselves, they were watchful that students also did not let the guard down as far as following COVID-19 guidelines were concerned. The response to school re-opening for classes IX to XII was varied.
 
Nagpur city has total 580 schools according to NMC. Of these 29 are run by NMC and 551 by other managements. As per the data compiled by Education Department of NMC on Monday, 559 schools re-opened in the city including 29 of NMC and 530 others. As many as 21 schools in the city did not re-open on Monday, as per NMC data. The 580 schools in city have enrolled strength of 1,41,628 for classes IX to XII. Of these students, 3,896 are enrolled in NMC schools and 1,37,732 in other schools. Of total 1,41,628 students, parents of only 14,819 gave the consent letters. These 14,819 parents included 13,435 of other school students and 1,384 of NMC school students. Not all the students whose parents had given consent letters attended the school on Monday. As per the NMC data, 14,097 students attended respective schools.
 
These included 1,283 of NMC schools and 12,814 of other schools. One of the pre-conditions for teaching and non-teaching staff of schools was to get themselves tested for COVID-19. Accordingly, they underwent tests. As per NMC data, total 72 school staffers including 67 teachers and five non-teaching staffers tested positive for COVID-19. Of 72 testing positive for COVID-19, five were from NMC schools. Overall, only parents of only 10.46 per cent students gave consent. The overall attendance was 9.95 per cent of enrolled strength. Compared to the number of consent letters received, the student attendance was 95.12% per cent. Thus, most of the parents who gave consent letters sent their wards to schools on Monday.
 
Follow guidelines scrupulously: Municipal Commr Radhakrishnan B, Municipal Commissioner, appealed to the students to follow COVID-19 guidelines scrupulously. NMC administration has asked the respective school managements to make necessary arrangements. It is essential to take necessary precautions pertaining to vehicles/buses/vans used to transport students from home to school and back, he added.
 
‘Class X, XII students in NMC schools to get tab’
 
Dilip Dive, Chairman of Education Committee of the civic body; Pramod Tabhane, Deputy Chairman; and Priti Mishrikotkar, Education Officer, visited Vivekanand Nagar Hindi Upper Primary and Secondary School of NMC, on the first day of school re-opening. This school registered 50 per cent attendance. NMC ensured that all students in its schools got text-books. Soon, students will get school uniforms too. In future, tablet-computers will be provided to Class X and XII students in NMC schools, said Dive. Dive, Tabhane, and Mishrikotkar interacted with the students and teachers both. During interaction, Dive told students to take abundant precaution. He asked them to avoid shaking hands with each other, using own water bottle, following seating arrangement, and keeping the mask on all the time in school. According to Dive, students expressed joy on being at school after a gap of months. They also assured to follow COVID-19 guidelines, he added. Mishrikotkar said that the students whose parents did not give consent letter to respective schools, would continue to avail of the facility of online education. 
 
At a glance
 
Number of schools -- 580 (551 Others, 29 NMC)
 
Schools started on Monday -- 559 (530 Others, 29 NMC)
 
Student strength for Std IX to XII -- 1,41,628 (1,37,732 Other schools, 3,896 NMC schools)
 
Consent received from parents -- 14,819 (13,435 Other schools, 1,384 NMC schools)
 
No of students present on Monday -- 14,097 (12,814 Other schools, 1,283 NMC schools)
 
COVID-19 positive school staff -- 72 (67 Other schools, 5 NMC schools)