The school reopening after a month-long break due to the third wave of COVID-19 cases in Hyderabad turned into a non-event due to amavasya or new moon night. A large number of parents refused to send their children to school due to the belief that amavasya is inauspicious.
“I will go to school from tomorrow. My parents didn’t send me to school because of amavasya,” said a student of Class II of MPPS Hyderguda. “We had only 30% attendance in high school today, as many parents didn’t send children to school even though we messaged them about classes between 9.15 a.m. and 1 p.m.,” said Sabitha, a teacher at Gnanaprabha School in Nalanda Colony. The school has 250 students on its rolls. Schools in Telangana were closed temporarily on January 8 as the number of cases of COVID-19 showed an increasing trend.
