DELHI SCHOOLS: GOVERNMENT WILL ACCEPT SOME COMMON SUGGESTIONS OF ITS PRINCIPALS, ON HOW TO REOPEN SCHOOLS
To check preparedness Delhi government is inviting class XII with a maximum of 12 students, three-four-hour sessions. These may be the way forward if the Delhi government accepts some common suggestions of its principals on how to reopen schools after the pandemic lockdown.
A senior official said that in a recent meeting with the principals of over 1,000 government schools, education minister Manish Sisodia asked them to come up with individual plans. Now the suggestions have been submitted to the district deputy education (DDE) officers and the department will soon start reviewing them.
Yashwant Singh Negi, principal of Government Boys’ Senior Secondary School at Ghitroni, agrees with Sisodia that in the current situation of pandemic one central policy cannot be implemented.
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Yashwant Singh further explained that there is a need to call the Class XII students to school as soon as possible. In each school, there aren’t more than 100 students in this class. As they are senior children, they will be able to follow rules. He added that with around 12 children in one classroom, social distancing can be followed.
Negi said his school has 84 students in Class XII. They have already lost some months. The school can also check its preparedness to handle the situation with this.
A four-hour session with senior school students without any long break has been planned by A K Jha, principal of Government Co-Ed Sarvodaya Vidyalaya in Rohini’s Sector 8. He said before the school opens, there will be three days’ training for teachers and staff to bust any myth and fear about the virus.
Jha also wants to involve 60% of the staff in teaching and the rest in implementing safety norms at the gate and on the premises. Jha suggests that even for teachers, the school will be over in five hours. The school is already getting around 1,000 cloth masks for students.
Most of the principals have opined against any extracurricular activity and suggested adjusting the school expenditure to buy hand-washing stations and sanitizers.
Rajpal Singh, principal of Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya in Dwarka Sector 10, has made plans to buy a spraying machine for sanitizing the premises. Rajpal Singh has suggested to call all children every day and hold five 45-minute periods. Students from classes VI to IX will be called from 8 am to 11 am and the rest after a half-hour break.
He further added that teachers will also have staggered timings. During the break, sanitation staff can easily clean the building with the machine. The school has a collaboration with Microsoft to provide online supplementary classes.
Most principals are also in favor of calling the children of primary classes too. Ritu Singhal, principal of Laxmi Nagar’s Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya said that these children should be called at least once a week as they require regular reinforcement.
