As part of the Unlock process set in motion now, the Centre has issued guidelines for reopening of schools in a phased manner from 15th October. States and Union Territories have been asked to frame their own Standard Operating Procedures for safely reopening schools based on local situations. Guidelines on health and hygiene as well as learning with physical distancing have been issued. Schools have been asked to arrange for disinfecting all areas on campus and ensure proper airflow in indoor spaces. Importantly, flexibility in attendance has been stressed upon and students are to attend classes only with written consent of the parents. Alternatively, students will be allowed to attend Online classes if they prefer.
The issue of opening of schools is hugely complex both from the perspective of controlling the spread of the virus and also logistically for both school administration and parents/students. Add to that, the uneven spread of the virus infection in various states as also different districts and urban areas within given states, the problem becomes many-layered. Schools have just come to terms with Online learning, with administrators and teachers adapting new skills to cope. Same goes for students as well. When schools would be expected to continue with Online learning while at the same time open up physical classes, the issue of standardized learning for all students will necessarily crop up. Apart from a few top educational institutions, most schools will find it difficult to maintain both modes of learning in tandem. Plus, if students will be given the option to stay away from schools, most may prefer to do it anyway. Thus, it will be difficult to find a balance between testing the risk takers and the ones who wish to stay safe. On the other hand, parents will have to take the hard decision between learning and safety of their wards and family. This burden placed squarely on the shoulders of parents seems unfair when the initial lockdown and all other decisions have been taken by the government at the Centre and the states without consulting anybody.
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The logistics of hygiene and maintaining distance in schools is also tricky, with most schools operating within their means without the luxury of extra learning spaces for physical distancing. This would place a lot of schools, including government institutions, at a disadvantage, with the exception of top notch private schools. It has not been mentioned how the schools will go about following the guidelines. The very important issue of testing all students before classes is to begin has not been addressed at all. It is imperative that students are tested beforehand and tests continue for many weeks in schools in a phased manner to identify and contain the spread of the virus. In the US, numerous students tested positive within days of reopening of schools and many institutions were forced to shut down almost as soon as they opened up. This was expected but possible to identify only because testing was done at schools. Without putting in mechanisms and guidelines for this very critical step, it would be suicidal to open up schools. Monitoring has to be an essential step of this exercise. With thousands of schools across the country and millions of students and their families at risk, skipping this step would be like pushing people to war without weapons. The Centre and now the states need to first clarify their strategy for this humongous testing mission, including who will spend the money for testing, before any other step.
Over and above all this, it is very important to consult all stake holders in this process. Without taking the opinions of parents, teachers and school/college managements, the government will again be creating another situation which could be disastrous for the country. Hopefully, the Odisha government will avoid such unitary actions.
