Jalandhar schools put safety measures in place

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 23

Sanitising the campus and ensuring 100 per cent vaccination of the entire staff and 18-plus eligible students before reopening are some of the stringent measures that private and government schools have been ensuring as they gear up to open in a week's time for the senior classes. The number of Covid cases in the district presently is at an all-time low.

Even as the state government has allowed all schools in Punjab to resume regular teaching for Classes X to XII from July 26, the authorities have begun the process of seeking consent of the parents. While only a few schools will open on the scheduled date, the authorities of the remaining schools are gearing up to start calling the students from next Monday, i.e., August 2 onwards.

Even the government schools may take some days to reopen as District Education Officer Harinder Pal Singh said, “We have called the parents of all government schools on July 26 to give consent to allow their children to attend regular classes. We will take the decision based on their response."

One of the schools which might resume regular classes for students of Classes X to XII is Innocent Hearts School. Principal Rajiv Paliwal says: “We are preparing ourselves to be fully ready to welcome the senior classes to school from July 26. All government SOPs and guidelines will be followed and our staff has been issued directions accordingly. Our entire staff has been vaccinated.”

Like Innocent Hearts School, Cambridge International School is also set to open on July 26. Director of the school Deepa Dogra said, “Our entire staff has been vaccinated. We have sought consent from the parents and we will get their feedback by tomorrow. To begin with, we will open only for 12 students per class. We will stagger the classes too. We will call Classes XI and XII on one day and Class X the other day. All Covid related guidelines will be followed properly for the safety of the students and staff. We hope that with everything falling in place, we will be able to bring back our students to the campus from July 26 onwards.”

Owner of the 23 chains of the DIPS in the city Tarwinder Singh Raju said, "We have a few 18-plus students in Class XI. We have already asked their parents to get these eligible children vaccinated. Once we get the confirmation, we may resume classes for X to XII from August 2. Once everything gets back on track for the senior classes, we may call in other classes too.”

Likewise, MD of CT Schools, Manbir Singh said, “The most likely date for us to resume classes for the students of X to XII is from August 2 since it is a Monday and we will have a full week to prepare. We need to get each and every corner of our campus sanitised well. We have already sanitised our Atal Tinkering Lab and we have allowed 15-20 senior students to take turns so as to perform their experiments with the teachers. We are helping them with learning coding, robotics and basics of artificial intelligence."

Most of the private schools are of the opinion that they will have to continue with the hybrid mode of education. Principal Ritu Kaul of Delhi Public School says: “We will begin the process of seeking consent of parents of students of senior classes, in the coming week. If we get the nod from them, offline classes will resume for the senior classes. Even if only 20-30 per cent parents give their consent, our teachers will call the students on alternate days. We will take offline classes on one day and online the next day as we did earlier."

The schools in Punjab were allowed to open for just about five months in the last session till the government ordered their closure again on March 20 last, just ahead of the final examination.

Not ready to send wards: Parents

• Purnima Sharma, a parent of Class XI student, said: “I know that my child’s studies are getting affected owing to Covid. But I am still not prepared to send him to school and will not give my consent as of now. He is preparing for JEE and I have so far not even sent him to his coaching centre. The health of our child is our foremost priority”
• Sanjay Dhiman, another parent, said: “My daughter is in Class X. She is the younger out of the two. Even my son, who is a collegiate and is vaccinated, is not attending regular classes. When the children meet their friends, they tend to forget all Covid protocols. I will wait for at least a few weeks and watch the Covid conditions and decide accordingly. I am not in any hurry to send my daughter to school as of now.”

Senior classes gear up

• Even as the state government has allowed all schools in Punjab to resume regular teaching for Classes X to XII from July 26, the authorities have begun the process of seeking consent of the parents
• While only a few schools will open on the scheduled date, the authorities of the remaining schools are gearing up to start calling the students from next Monday, i.e., August 2 onwards
• One among those schools which might resume regular classes for students of Classes X to XII is Innocent Hearts School. Principal Rajiv Paliwal says: We are preparing ourselves to be fully ready to welcome the senior classes to school from July 26.”

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