Despite masks covering their faces, children had a glow in their eyes and they were all smiling after seeing their friends as they entered the school on Monday after a long break caused by the pandemic outbreak, in Kannur and Kasaragod districts.
They were welcomed not just by officials from the Education Department, but by District Collectors and Revenue Divisional Officers and other government officials.
In Kannur, 1,300 schools were reopened. Two schools could not be reopened as COVID-19 cases were reported from there. While 13,421 teachers were on duty at schools, over 1 lakh children from Class 1 to Class 7 and Class 10 attended classes. Offline sessions for Classes 8 and 9 would be held from November 15.
In Kasaragod
Students attended classes in large numbers in 773 schools in Kasaragod too.
Several anxious parents who came to drop their wards were seen waiting outside school gates to watch the proceedings and arrangements that were made to welcome children to the school. Many of them still had apprehensions, while others felt that they had to take the risk despite the threat of COVID-19.
“I was not sure if it was appropriate to send my child to school,” said Dhanya Ravindran, an Ayurveda doctor, who came along with her child studying in Class 1 at Udinoor Central AUP School in Trikaripur, to meet the teacher after taking an RT-PCR test for her child, who was having cold and fever.
Baburaj, whose child is studying in St. Teresa’s Anglo Indian High School, said children were fed up and the opening of schools had given them a refreshing feeling.
However, the absence of school buses and vehicles continued to worry many parents who came to pick their children from schools. They complained that in the absence of schoolbuses, autorickshaws and other vehicle operators were charging heavy fee for transporting children.
