Schools should not force students to attend physical classes, and the hybrid arrangement of physical and virtual classes must continue for some time, president of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education Kalyanmoy Ganguly said on Friday.
As the COVID-19 situation improved, the State government decided to reopen schools from Class VIII onwards from February 3, but said arrangements for students to avail classes through the online mode would continue. Other than State-run schools continuing with both physical and virtual classes, students from Class VI onwards can take lessons through some television channels and an online portal. Since the re-opening of schools, attendance in State- run schools was also far from 100% and a section of the students have stayed away from physical classrooms.
At a time the State-run schools are being more accommodating, allowing both virtual and physical option for students , private schools in Kolkata are not sure how to grapple with the situation. While some private schools are not keen to compel students for physical classes, a number of private schools in the city have decided to completely suspend online classes, leaving students with no option but to come to school.
On Friday , students of a reputed school in south Kolkata were all of a sudden blocked from attending virtual classes and the authorities went on to insist that only those who come to school will be allowed to attend classes. Parents feel that the schools should be more considerate in the switch from virtual to physical classes as most of the children have not been vaccinated.
Parents approach court
A group of parents approached Calcutta High Court on Friday protesting against the decision of private schools in the city to have a compulsory 100 % student attendance. The petitioners have urged the court through the public interest litigation petition to direct schools to have hybrid teaching. They also pointed out that many students had not been fully vaccinated for COVID-19, and forcing them to come to school was putting them at unnecessary health risk. The matter is likely to be taken up for hearing next week.
Poor vaccination status
As on February 3, only 1.57 lakh children between 15-18 in West Bengal have been administered both doses of he vaccine. The figures are negligible considering the population of the State. States such as Tamil Nadu have vaccinated 2.42 lakh students with both doses and Rajasthan has given the jabs to 2.03 children in the same age group. Both the States have a smaller population compared to West Bengal. A few days ago, the State government informed the Calcutta High Court that it was considering vaccinating 85 % of the students before reopening schools. A decision to reopen the schools was, however, taken before the vaccination target could be achieved. Despite the drop in case positivity rate, the State has continued to report more than 30 deaths daily due to contagious viral infection for the past three weeks.
