Schools reopen with a few students amid COVID scare in Jammu

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 21

The authorities opened schools in Jammu and Kashmir today despite opposition to the decision by the civil society and political parties here.

Fear-stricken parents preferred not to send their wards to schools, with only a few students turning up for taking “consultation” from teachers.

In some private institutions, arrangements were made as per the standard operating procedures of the Union Government, but many government schools were opened without sanitisation as the authorities had not made any arrangements in this regard. The situation was not any better in the rural areas.

Not even a single student turned up in two prominent government schools of Jammu city —Government SRML Higher Secondary School and Gandhi Nagar Higher Secondary for Boys — as these opened after a gap of six months.

“Although the admission process is on, as of now, we have a strength of nearly 1,400 students, but not even a single student turned up today,” Anjali Gupta, principal, SPML Higher Secondary School, told The Tribune.

“I am not going to put the life of my son at stake following the reckless decision taken by the authorities to open schools at a time when the recovery rate has dropped significantly in Jammu district,” Naveen Gupta, father of a student, said.

“How can we take a risk by sending our children to school amid a surge in positive cases?” Tilak Raj, a resident of RS Pura, said.

“I am not going to submit the indemnity bond. The authorities have decided to open the schools and they have to take the responsibility of the safety of students,” said Vijay Verma, a resident of Bishnah town of Jammu district.

For the past week, Bishnah town has become a hotspot of the virus.

  "I was on a visit to Reasi district and only five to seven students were present in different schools and attending the special meetings with their teachers meant to clear their doubts,” Director School Education, Jammu, Anuradha Gupta said.

She said the school management has been directed to devise a mechanism to ensure the students make the best of the opportunity and come out with a roster to fulfil the requirement of the students.

The decision of the government to reopen the schools came under sharp criticism from opposition parties, including the National Conference and the Congress, who questioned the rationale behind the opening of school from classes IX to XII amid the pandemic.

“We have not opened the schools for regular classes. The partial reopening is to facilitate the students to clear their doubts in any subject in their classrooms while following all the precautionary measures to avoid COVID-19,” she said.

“Keeping in view the peculiar circumstances (due to COVID-19), we have introduced online and offline methods of education besides community classes in non-containment zones. The blending of offline and online mechanisms is meant to provide options to the students and safeguard their future,” Gupta said, adding that the online classes would continue till the time demands.

Official reports spoke about zero to low attendance in various schools as most parents did not sign the consent form.

'We have a roll of 1,900 students in classes IX-XII but only 85 students have come with the consent of their parents,” the principal of Shiksha Niketan School at Jeevan Nagar in Jammu said.

Kamaljeet Singh, a student of Class X, expressed happiness over the reopening of schools, saying that he got an opportunity to interact with some of his friends after a gap of over six months.

"All of us have face masks and sanitisers. We were screened at the school gate and had to follow social distancing even in the classroom,” Singh said. With inputs from PTI report

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