Lower primary schools across Mysuru district reopened on Monday. They recorded 58.17 percent attendance.
However, some private schools are reopening only after Deepavali in November as they have sought time to make arrangements. Classes for students of standard 1 to V are restarting after a gap of nearly 19 months.
Soon after the government’s decision on physical classes, the schools, especially those run by the government, had started preparations with the cleaning of classrooms and sanitization of the premises as per the recommended SOPs.
As it was noticed that children were lagging behind in academics in the absence of classroom teaching for a long time, the experts had recommended reopening of schools in stages, taking all necessary precautions for restoring normalcy in learning. The children, especially from the villages, had faced hurdles in accessing online teaching, especially due to connectivity issues and lack of devices.
The schools will take up revision classes before taking up actual syllabus to improve the confidence in children.
Deputy Director of Public Instruction Ramachandra Raje Urs, who visited various primary schools in Mysuru district, told The Hindu that the reopening was smooth. Most schools had a festive ambience with teachers and staff decorating the premises to greet the children, who also looked very enthusiastic. Some children had worn new clothes to celebrate the moment. Parents too looked happy.
Out of 1,98,296 children studying in classes 1 to 5, a total of 1,15,351 – 58.17 per cent - attended the classes on day one. The teachers have checked consent letters from parents and the children were sensitised about safety precautions that are necessary to be complied with.
Mr. Urs said the midday meals for children of classes 1 to 5 will be commencing from November 2. As most schools had distributed groceries to the children as per the recommended quantity prior to the reopening, a decision was taken to recommence the meals’ scheme in November.
However, meals were being served to the children studying in class 6 to 10, he said, adding that 77.6 percent of children of this group were attending the classes since their resumption. “We hope to see rise in attendance of children of classes 1 to 5 in the days ahead.”
The classes will run for half-a-day from October 25 to 30. From November 2, there will be full-day classes, along with midday meals.
Schools for class 1 to 5 also reopened in Kodagu, Mandya and Chamarajanagar districts. In Kodagu, the children were affectionately greeted by their teachers.
“We were missing the children. We are also equally happy, like the children, with the reopening of schools. Only two students will sit in each bench and the COVID-19 Appropriate Behaviour will be complied with,” said teacher Vatsala in Madikeri.
