Central Govt Drafting Norms on Post-Covid Schools, Considering Reopening With Curbs

The central government is working on creating a framework for schooling 2.0. The government is considering reopening schools in physical mode once again, however, the school system will not be going back to normal. Even when reopened, the schools in a post-Covid-19 world will not be the same again. Activities such as sharing lunch among children or sitting in a group are unlikely to resume.

The union government is working on a model for staggered opening of schools for physical classes following all COVID-19 related protocols. The government has been forced to consider reopening schools after parents from all across the country demanded reopening on a voluntary basis. Parents claim that being at home and glued to screens for over two years now has created anxiety among students. They also claim that online learning is creating socio-behavioural changes among kids.

Highly placed sources in the Ministry of Education have told News18.com that the government is working with experts from fields of health and education to create model frameworks for educational institutes. These will act as standard operating principles for schools if they decide to reopen. A timeline on this has not been revealed yet.

The pandemic had first shut schools in mid-March 2020 and ever since baring a few weeks here and there students have been studying in online mode. This has not only created issues for students who do not have resources to study in online mode but those who have resources are also facing problems like screen addiction.

Recently, UNICEF had said that shutting down of schools is causing more harm to students’ health than the pandemic could have caused them. School closure are affecting mental health of an entire generation, chidren with less schooling are more likely to live in poverty for rest of their lives, and students attending schools are also facing learning losses hence falling furthe rbehind in their learnings, claimed UNICEF.

An Azim Premji Report had also said that there is an alarming dip in learning levels of Indian students.It claimed taht 92 per cent of children have lost at least one language ability while 82 per cent ahve lost math skills.

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