KOLKATA: Along with government schools, several private schools in Kolkata will also join the Paray Shikhalay programme, giving students below Class VIII a chance to interact with their teachers in an open-air setting after a two-year pandemic-induced gap.
The Paray Shikhalay project is aimed at bridging the digital divide and allowing primary and middle-school students attend physical classes beyond the confines of the classrooms.
St Augustine’s Day School and Rammohan Mission School will initiate the programme from Monday while Future Foundation School has planned to start from February 9. Each school has prepared a proper timetable to avoid overcrowding.
St Augustine’s School has circulated a notice saying, “Our school will organise ‘Paraye Shikshalay’ or open-air classes for our pre-primary and primary students.” The classes will start with the primary students from 8.30am to 10.30am on Monday. Principal Rodney Borneo said, “Class will be held on the school ground while maintaining Covid rules. We received several e-mails from parents eager to send children to school.”
Rammohan Mission School will initiate the programme for classes V-VII from Monday. Principal Sujay Biswas said, “We have divided classes into two slots — the first is from 8.30am to 10.30am, and the second slot is from 11.30am to 1.30pm.”
Future Foundation School will hold classes — for one hour — at the nearest playground from Wednesday. The school authority has planned to organise a two-day rehearsal for classes before commencing with the project. “Parents and students of primary sections are very excited to attend classes, but we got mixed reactions from the students of middle school,” said principal Ranjan Mitter.
The state government has decided to bring back in-person teaching-learning habits from pre-primary classes because, in the last two years, these children never stepped on to school campuses. Bengal has started on-site offline lessons for students of classes VIII-XII from February 3, and has announced that the younger students — till Class VII — will have in-person open-space learning from Monday.
The state has prepared a schedule by mentioning a list of parks and open spaces that can be used. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has divided available open spaces into 23 circles and the schools have been instructed to hold classes in the areas nearest to them.
State education minister Bratya Basu had mentioned that private schools may join hands with them if they want and a few private schools came forward.
