Only 33% parents support reopening schools in September
NEW DELHI: Given the rising number of Covid-19 cases in India, parents are against the idea of government contemplating to reopen schools September onwards, as per a latest survey.
Schools in the country have been closed for more than 5 months now since the Covid-19 lockdown was announced in March. To continue classes, many schools resorted to online sessions for children. There have been reports that the government is considering to open schools from September 1 as part of the phased unlocking procedure reaching its final level. In the final stage of Unlock, states might consider starting classes on school campus.
However, 58 per cent parents do not support reopening of schools, as per a survey conducted by LocalCircles with a sample size of 25,000 parents and grandparents from 252 districts of India. Only 33 per cent respondents said they approve of the reported government plan of restarting schools from September 1 for classes 10-12 and for classes 6-10 after 15 days.
The major reason why parents are opposed to restarting schools in September is their unwillingness to take chances against the virus. As many as 13 per cent said they don’t want to risk their children’s health by exposing them outdoors given the unknown factors related to Covid-19.
At least 9 per cent said social distancing will not be possible in schools, 5 per cent said Covid-19 spread will increase even faster if schools were opened and 1 per cent said there is a higher risk for senior citizens in the family in case a child gets infected.
Interestingly though, only 2 per cent said they believe online education is a good substitute given the situation. Around 47 per cent said all of the above were valid reasons for them.
With a total number of Covid-19 cases at 2.2 million and a daily caseload of approximately 65,000, India now has the highest number of daily cases in the world. As per the WHO guidelines, children fall in the high-risk category.
The survey observed that the scepticism among parents is also due to how dozens of students and school staff started testing positive in the USA when schools were reopened.
In early May, Israel became the first country to restart schools and within a few days, hundreds of students and teachers got infected. Kenya has decided to cancel the entire school year to protect the kids from the infection, reported the survey.
To bridge the gap for students who don’t have internet connectivity, parents strongly feel that the government via radio, television and financial support should enable online classes in such schools.
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