Parental consent, classes on alternate days in school SOPS
The state government announced reopening of classes 6-8 from February 10 and classes 1-5 from Mar 1
GHAZIABAD: The basic education directorate of the Uttar Pradesh government has issued a set of standard operating procedures (SOP) for schools and parents to be followed for the reopening of schools in the state.
The state government last week allowed reopening of schools for students of classes 6 to 8 from February 10, and classes 1 to 5 from March 1.
According to the SOPS, parental consent is a must for sending a child to school and that it will not be the responsibility of the school if the student contracts Covid-19.
The SOPS will pave way for the opening of schools for classes 1 to 8 in a phased manner, officials said.
District officials said the SOPS will be applicable to all schools, whether government or private.
“All sets of schools are covered under the standard operating procedures, irrespective of education board. These will be applicable for private as well as government schools and they will have to make arrangements for sanitisation, social distancing and other guidelines already defined under the appropriate Covid behaviour,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, the district magistrate of Ghaziabad.
The district has 455 government schools with the district basic department under the UP state education board, while 147 schools are affiliated to the CBSE board, apart from private schools.
The SOPS add that if children wish to study from home, they should be allowed to do so.
The consent form, which is to
be signed by parents, however, has several conditions. It says that although schools are to ensure all safety procedures, the institutions cannot guarantee that no child can contract Covid-19 in the future.
“Parents have to ensure that the child has no symptoms such as cough/cold, fever or respiratory issues and will not send the child if he/she portrays any such symptoms. The schools will not be held responsible in case the students or their family members or friends get Covid-19. In case parents hide details of any positive case, they shall be solely responsible,” the SOPS stated.
The schools’ association has, however, objected to the clause of “parents’ consent” which they say will hinder attendance.
“While opening classes 9, to 12 (in October last year) they inserted the clause of consent and are continuing with it. In classes being operated currently, only 20% attendance is being seen, with 40% in case of preboard examinations. If this clause continues with other classes (1 to 8), the attendance will remain very low as parents are still not willing to send their children to schools,” said Subhash Jain, president of Independent Schools Federation of
India.
The SOPS have also stated that schools should maintain a maximum capacity of 50% students on the first day while the rest of the students should attend classes the next day.
Besides, on any of the days, student capacity should not be more than 50%.
It added that schools having a high number of students in a single class must hold classes in two sessions in order to maintain the occupancy limit and to ensure social distancing norms.
Further, it has detailed that classes 1, 5 and 6 will be held on Mondays and Thursdays while
class 2, 4 and 7 must be held on Tuesdays and Fridays.
It added that class 3 and 8 should be held on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
“It will be quite cumbersome for schools to operate in such a manner and they will have to rope in additional staff and also prepare separate study materials for online and regular classes and examinations as well. There are issues for schools as many parents have not paid the fee for the past 11 months and may continue to do so in case the consent clause remains,” Jain added.
Members of parents’ associations said that the opening of schools should be deferred till the start of the next session.
“We think that they are allowing opening of schools just to make parents pay up the fees of the entire year, whereas the majority of the sessions have been held online. Instead, they must promote students of classes 1 to 8 to the next class,” said Vivek Tyagi, spokesperson of the Ghaziabad Parents’ Association.
He added that still the pandemic has not gone.
“The coverage of the Covidvaccination is still very low. Further, neither the government nor the schools will take responsibility in case the child contracts Covid-19. Instead, they are asking parents to sign the consent letter in which the entire onus is on parents. So, they will still not take the risk of sending children to school,” he added.
The Noida parents’ association echoed similar views.
“The state government has taken the decision in a haste. Despite tall claims, the implementation of the standard Covid-19 protocols could never be ensured in rural areas by the state government. Imagine what would happen in areas where schools lack safe portable water and furniture? How will the government ensure adequate availability of sanitisers and masks there? The state government must ask teachers of government schools, particularly in rural areas, not to compel children to attend classes. As per a survey done by the Noida Parents’ Association recently, almost 90% of the parents were unwilling to send their children back to schools for regular classes,” said Yatendra Kasana, president, Noida Parents’ Association.