Adilabad: Both government and private schools reopened to a lukewarm response from students attending physical classes which were resumed after a gap of around 16 months following the Covid-19 pandemic in erstwhile Adilabad district on Wednesday.
Wearing face masks, students thronged the schools. They were apparently unfazed by the deadly virus. They were welcomed in traditional ways in certain parts of the district. While teachers received their wards with roses, private schools decorated thresholds with colorful balloons to accord a warm welcome to the pupils.
Collector Sikta Patnaik along with District Educational Officer A Ravinder Reddy inspected a school at Ranadivenagar in Adilabad district headquarters and another school at Yapalguda village in Adilabad Rural mandal. She visited classrooms and interacted with students. She inspected the stock rooms meant for the Mid-day meal programme and isolation rooms. She advised students to wear face masks and to practice physical distance.
Adilabad District Educational Officer A Ravinder Reddy told ‘Telangana Today’ that as many as 24,667 students attended classes as against the total enrollment of 1,01,539 pupils on the first day, showing an average attendance of 24.29 per cent. While the government schools registered 29.76 per cent of attendance, private and aided schools recorded a turn-up of 15.26 per cent, he stated.
The average attendance of schools belonging to Mancherial district was computed to be 20 per cent. The government-run schools witnessed attendance percentage by 31 and the private educational institutions recorded attendance of barely 12 per cent. A total of 16,501 students out of the total 82,948 students turned up for offline classes on the first day.
Meanwhile, a total of 13,823 students were present in the physical classes when compared to the total enrolled students of 58,497 in the schools of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district, showing an average attendance of 24 per cent.
While the State-run schools saw the attendance of 35 per cent, private educational institutions had just eight per cent attendance.
In Nirmal, 25,304 students turned up for the classes as against the total enrollment of 1,13,457 pupils, suggesting an average attendance of 22 per cent. The government schools saw an attendance of 32 per cent, while private educational institutions witnessed an attendance of 15 per cent.
Students excited over schools reopening in Mancherial
Mancherial: Students, who attended classes on the first day of the restart of physical classes, appeared to be happy and enthusiastic over the restart of schools.
Bhargavi A, a class X student of Zilla Parishad High School said that she was happy to be in the classroom. She said that she waited for quite a long time for the classes to be resumed. She was satisfied with the sanitation of classrooms and basic amenities created at the school. She added that her parents were not tense over the spread of the Covid-19.
“It is good to see the restart of the physical classes. I can clear my doubts directly with the teachers. Happy to meet my friends after a long time. Though there was a facility of taking classes online classes, attending the school was a unique experience. The sanitation measures and preparedness by the management of the school are remarkable,” Boddukuri Sunandini, another Grade X student of the same school said.
D Sai Pranay, a class IX student of Padmacharan’s Krishnaveni Talent High School, felt that offline classes were better than online classes. We can learn things easily in a physical class room than online classes as we are accustomed to the former method. We can express our ideas and raise doubts in the offline classes, he stated.
“Compared to online classes, it is free to understand any topic in offline classes. We are disturbed by anyone during physical classes. But we are often distracted by noise and someone when attending online classes. I am very happy to be back to school and to meet friends after a long time,” Y Snehita, another Class IX student of this school observed.
Many other students echoed similar views and were visibly comfortable turning up for physical classes. They were practising physical distance and wearing face masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19.