Most schools will not resume classes from Monday

Several leading private schools of Ranchi will not be resuming regular classes for class 10 and class 12 from Monday as there is a lack of clarity on the number of parents who would be willing to send children to schools amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Faculty members of Delhi Public School (DPS) and JVM Shyamli, two renowned Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)-affiliated schools in the city, are holding online meetings with parents to seek their consent. But very few parents have agreed to send their children to school from Monday. Some students, who were staying outside Ranchi during the lockdown, are yet to return, while some parents have shown reluctance in sending children to school due to the fear of contracting Covid-19 infection.

“We have been holding online meetings with parents to get their consent for resumption of regular classes. The process is still not complete,” said JVM Shaymli principal Samarjeet Jana. “We cannot resume regular classes for hardly five or six students. Offline classes will begin only after we get consent from parents,” he added.

An official from the DPS administration said their school was likely to reopen next week once the process of getting consent from parents was completed. “We would need consent from parents of at least 50 per cent students in order to resume classes,” he said.

Surendranath Centenary School is planning to resume regular classes in the first week of January. Samita Sinha, the principal, said on Sunday that the school authorities were getting consent letters from parents and the classrooms were also being readied for classes.

“We have started sanitising classrooms and getting consent letters from parents. Classes will resume in the first week of January,” said Sinha.

On December 15, the Jharkhand government decided to resume regular classes for students of class 10 and class 12 with immediate effect. However, a day later, the Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC) stated that parents’ consent letter stating that they were aware of the Covid-19 restrictions and willing to send their children to school was a prerequisite for regular classes.