2 weeks on, attendance at government schools remains low

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, December 30

The fear of Covid-19 continues to affect students’ attendance at government schools as merely 34 per cent students in Jhajjar, 39 per cent in Rohtak and 41 per cent in Mahendragarh districts have attended classes even after two weeks of reopening of the schools.

Physical classes for Class X and XII students are being conducted since December 14, while those for Class IX and XI re-started from December 21 for three hours daily (from 10 am to 1 pm). Medical check-up of students for Covid symptoms has been made mandatory before joining the school. Written consent of the parents is also required.

“Average 34 per cent of students are attending the school in our district. The number of students studying in Class X and XII is considerably higher than those of Class IX and XI. A total of 15,950 students are enrolled in all four classes and 5,423 students among them came to the school today,” said Braham Prakash, DEO, Jhajjar.

He said initially, the strength was 15 per cent but it has improved gradually now as the teachers have been encouraging parents to send their wards to the school assuring them that all Covid guidelines such as social distancing, thermal scanning and hand sanitisation were being followed to protect the kids from infection in the school.

“Since many persons have contracted infection from health centres, we don’t want our children to be sent there for medical check-up. Moreover, many school students have also tested positive, so it is better to study at home,” said Rajesh, a parent from Jhajjar.

Sources, however, claimed that 46 school students had tested positive in Jhajjar district in the past ten days. Majority of them were asymptomatic and had come to the health centres for medical check-up to attend school.

Anil Kaushik, president, Progressive Private Schools Association, said less than 20 per cent students were coming to private schools across the state as parents were not interested in sending their wards to health centres for medical check-up.

Sunil Dutt, DEO, Mahendragarh, said his district was on the top across the state last week in terms of student strength.