Warangal: The reopening of schools in the erstwhile Warangal district was a muted affair with low attendance on day one on Wednesday. About 30 to 35 per cent of students attended government schools, while teachers’ presence was 99 per cent, according to Education department sources.
However, parents visited schools in Warangal and other parts of the district to check the conditions and implementation of the Covid-19 protocol. The majority of private schools preferred to continue with online classes. Confusion over the guidelines about the reopening of schools and incessant rains are said to be reasons behind the low turnout of students.
While the total strength of the Government Practicing High School, Lashkar Bazar is 619 (6th to 10th classes) in Hanamkonda, only 25 pupils attended the school. “However, nearly 125 parents have made a beeline at the school to check the cleanliness and other conditions,” said incharge HM K Moses. The other big high school, Markazi, also witnessed low attendance of the students.
“While the total strength of our school is 280, 100 of them have attended classes,” Dr Voore Gurundha Rao, a School Assistant of Kambhapallay ZPHS in Mahabubabad district told ‘Telangana Today’.
Meanwhile, Mahabubabad District Education Officer (DEO), ESS Sharma said that all the schools including government/aided/local body schools had been reopened and the schools witnessed 32 per cent of the attendance of the students. “Since the private schools are allowed to opt for either offline or online, many of them continued with the online teaching,” he said and added that the officials of the Gram Panchayats and Municipalities were extending full cooperation in keeping the school environs clean to avoid the disease, especially Covid-19.
However, a teacher from Station Ghanpur mandal of Jangaon district lamented that the government was not appointing the scavengers and sweepers for the schools making things difficult for the staff. “We are forced to contact the Gram Panchayat to send the scavenger or sweeper to make the school clean. It is not a good idea as the GP staff don’t respond to our calls properly,” he said and urged the government to appoint the sanitary staff for the schools.
Meanwhile, a teacher has expressed concern over the health of the students as they appear asymptomatic but can be potential carriers of viruses including the novel coronavirus.
“There are no specific guidelines about the ideal strength at the school during this pandemic period which is far from over. We can’t conduct classes for all the students. If all students attend the classes, we can’t ensure physical distancing school. In view of this, the government must continue with the online classes through T-SAT for some more months,” he said. There are nearly 1200 High Schools, 3800 Primary Schools and 350 Upper Primary Schools (UPS) in erstwhile Warangal district.
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