HYDERABAD: School authorities in the city on Monday said that they don’t want to create panic by shutting physical classes and would wait until the government or ICMR issues new guidelines before switching to online mode again, despite educational institutes reporting a spurt in coronavirus cases.
“We have started seeing about 80% attendance in physical classes. At this juncture, we don’t want to stop offline classes abruptly and create panic,” said S Narsimha Reddy, principal, The Hyderabad Public School Ramanthapur and chairperson, Hyderabad Sahodaya Schools Complex. He said that right from primary schools, the attendance percentage has improved lately with about 70% to 80% of students attending physical classes regularly.
“Government has already started checking passengers in the airport. We will wait until the state makes a decision on whether or not schools can continue physical classes,” said S Srinivas Reddy, honorary president, Telangana Recognised School Management Association.
Budget school managements said that if the state announces lockdown and schools had to be shut again, more than 50% of schools will not be able to survive. They said that even now they are finding it difficult to hire quality teachers as many have left the teaching field and are reluctant to come back.
When it comes to government schools, teachers said that there has been a slight increase in the number of absentees in the last few days. “Several students are down with fever, cold, and other Covid-19 symptoms. Further, with increased coverage on omicron, it looks are parents are again hesitating to send their wards to school,” said M Ravindar, a math teacher and vice-president of Telangana Progressive Teachers Federation.
