Page 14 - Education World September 2021

Education News

School, Dwarka, Delhi. million students is not new.
In its publicity material and Earlier, a GR dated July 7
advertising campaigns, its leader- permitted conditional re-
ship proclaims AAP as a political opening of secondary schools
party “with a difference”. Certainly (classes VIII-XII) from July
it deserves full marks for having cot- 15 in rural habitats that didn’t
toned on that even households at the report any Coronavirus cases
bottom of the country’s iniquitous in the month preceding. This
socio-economic pyramid are begin- resulted in 17,701 schools
ning to appreciate that high-quality restarting on-campus learn-
education is the sole passport for the ing for 1.5 million children.
upward mobility of their children. Had the August 10 GR been
In the Punjab assembly elections followed, schools in 25 of the
scheduled for Feb-March, AAP is set Maharashtra school children: restart uncertainty state’s 36 districts that have
to field a large number of candidates reported low numbers of Co-
and may well emerge as a major kwad put an August 10 government vid cases would have reopened in the
force because of its public education resolution (GR) to restart schools on second phase.
enhancement record in Delhi. That hold. In the absence of official clarifi- Unfortunately even three months
will be an object lesson for the state’s cation, the overwhelming majority of “into the new academic year (2021-
ruling Congress and opposition BJP private schools in Maharashtra have 22) the government is still debating
parties who pay mere lip-service to not resumed in-class schooling. schools reopening. Given experience
human capital development. There is a backstory to this confu- of the past year of lockdown, one
Autar Nehru (Delhi) sion. Weeks after the first lockdown would have expected better co-ordi-
(March 25-April 14, 2020), the state nation between the government and
MAHARASHTRA government constituted a nine-mem- its own task forces regarding SOPs.
Reopening back & ber general task force chaired by Dr. The government needs to ensure all
schools are reopened immediately to
Oak to supervise, monitor and suggest
forth measures to curb the spread of the complete the syllabus for the current
pandemic in the state. The 13-mem-
academic year 2021-22. We cannot af-
ber paediatric task force chaired by ford another year without exams since
n a classic case of too many cooks, Dr. Prabhu was set up a year later on we have no reliable data to fall back on
the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi May 27, in anticipation of a third wave when evaluating students because no
I(MVA) coalition government’s of the pandemic that is forecast to im- exams were conducted in 2020-21,”
grand plans to reopen schools from pact children. says Mahendra Ganpule, spokes-
August 17 onwards has run awry be- The task forces’ reservations have person and former president, Maha-
cause of divergence of opinion be- derailed the government’s plans to rashtra Principals Association.
tween its two Covid-19 management greenlight conditional resumption of With schools across India’s pre-
task forces. Fearing resurgence of the in-person classes in areas where Coro- mier industrial state (pop.115 mil-
pandemic in the state, the general task navirus infections are under control. lion) in lockdown since March 2020,
force chaired by Dr. Sanjay Oak, The MVA government’s August 10 GR the MVA government is under fire
vice chancellor, D.Y. Patil University, permitted secondary schools in rural from academics for being indifferent
has recommended that schools re- areas to hold in-person classes for to the learning loss of children. Jana
main closed until Diwali (November class V-XII children from August 17. Arogya Abhiyaan (JAA), a Pune-based
14). On the other hand, the paediatric Simultaneously, urban schools were health advocacy group, has demanded
task force led by Dr. Suhas Prabhu, permitted to start in-person instruc- government makes the reports of the
consultant for paediatric infectious tion for class VIII-XII students subject two task forces public. Warning about
diseases at the P.D. Hinduja Hos- to their following standard operating rising cases of tuberculosis because
pital and Medical Research Centre, procedures (SOPs) including double of loss of the free mid-day meal in
Mumbai, has recommended schools vaccination of all staff and teachers government primary schools and an-
reopening by end-September subject and compulsory parental approval for ganwadis, JAA has urged immediate
to strict adherence to Covid-19 safety all students attending physical classes. reopening of primary schools as well.
protocols. This back and forth on the issue While educators have for long
No sooner did the two task forces of resuming in-school classes in Ma- warned about schools closure result-
make their divergent reports public, harashtra’s 46,365 secondary schools ing in high dropout rates and children
state education minister Varsha Gai- with an aggregate enrolment of 13 not being able to cope when they re-

14 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2021