Monday, 12 October 2020 | PNS | Dehradun
Despite the claims of various parents associations in the State that most of the parents are against sending their children to schools in the current pandemic, the president of Principals Progressive Schools’ Association (PPSA), Prem Kashyap stated that as per the reports of nine districts, about 70 per cent parents are willing to send their children to schools. Recently many associations of parents like Uttarakhand Abhibhavak Sangh (UAS) and Abhibhavak Ekta Samiti Uttarakhand (AESU) stated that parents do not favour the reopening of schools in the current situation. According to UAS, 80 per cent of the academic year of every class is already over so why risk putting children in an unsafe environment. “These are vulnerable times when the Covid-19 positive cases are fluctuating every day. Hardly few months are left for the completion of this academic year then why do the schools want to resume classes now? As per our information, more than 80 per cent of the parents do not agree to routine physical classes in schools before the next year,” stated the president of UAS, Ram Kumar Singhal.
When Kashyap was asked about the disagreement of parents, he said that in the recent reports of nine districts, about 60 to 70 per cent parents agreed to resumption of the classes for students of classes IX to XII in schools. “We are aware of the situation therefore we will be resuming classes in different phases considering what is best for the students,” stated Kashyap. He said that the private schools will resume classes IX to XII in the first phase, classes VI to VIII in the second phase in about two weeks and then classes III to V in the third phase, all depending on the situation. However, he said that they will discontinue online classes one week after the schools are reopened. “We have presented this plan before the secondary education department in a recent meeting too besides some of our demands,” said Kashyap. However, he added that they will respect the decision taken in the cabinet meeting of October 14 and will fulfil all the conditions recommended by the government for the safe resumption of schools.
