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Education News
day school in Kolkata, who understandably preferred to THEY SAID IT IN OCTOBER
remain anonymous.
Across the country when state governments have “If AAP comes to power (in Punjab), a strict
to choose between religious festivities and education campaign against people involved in charging
p
continuity, the preference is for uj as. West Bengal is no exorbitant school fees would be launched. We
exception. believe that if the quality of education would
Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)
improve, the future of people would get se-
KARNATAKA cured. is is the reason why we are focusing
Belated reopening on education in our poll promises.”
Manish Sisodia, Delhi deputy chief minister, on the
forthcoming legislative elections in Punjab state
FTER 19 MONTHS OF CONTINUOUS LOCKDOWN AND dith- (October 1, Hindustan Times)
ering over reopening of schools because of fear of
ACovid-19 contagion, on October 25 the state’s BJP “A country needs to create an environment
government greenlighted commencement of in-person where citizens can engage in economic activ-
classes in all 73,238 government, aided and private schools ities and the government plays the role of the
of Karnataka with free mid-day meals for classes I-V chil- regulator— and not where the government
dren in government schools, beginning November 2. Earlier runs business and competes with citizens. A
on August 23, the government had allowed reopening of government exists for its citizens, citizens do
on-campus schooling for classes IX and XII and for class
VI onwards from September 6. Moreover on November 8, not exist for the government!”
all 66,361 government managed anganw adis and private T.V. Mohandas Pai, chairman, Manipal Global Education
preschools statewide also reopened. (News18.com, October 9)
However, even as on-campus in-class learning has been
permitted, the state’s education ministry has made atten- “e National Education Policy 2020 will not
dance optional with schools allowed to continue online be implemented in Tamil Nadu. An expert
learning. In addition, the government has issued detailed committee will be formed by the state gov-
Covid safety SOPs (standard operating procedures) for ernment to prepare a new State Education
school managements to make masking, 50 percent class- Policy.”
room attendance, parental consent letters and all teacher M.K. Stalin, TN chief minister (ANI, October 28)
and staff vaccination, com-
pulsory.
But with widespread fears “Our education is not inclusive. Our educa-
about an imminent third wave tion is not such that those provided (with it) in
of the pandemic, parental re- some villages and big cities have no difference
sponse has been lukewarm. in their quality. We must consider all this. And
Data released in early No- unless we achieve this, according to sustain-
vember by the Department of able development standards, we are still lack-
Public Instruction’s Student ing in terms of education.”
Attendance Tracking System Justice Uday Lalit, Supreme Court Judge (Times of
indicates that average atten- India, November 1)
dance in classes I-V is a mere V.P. Niranjanaradhya
25 percent. In upper prima-
ries (classes VI-VIII) attendance ranges from 31-36 percent “An overwhelming majority of India’s 250
with classes IX-X registering the highest — 38 percent — million children who are now returning to
student attendance. As on November 3, over 65 percent of schools had no regular contact with teachers
the state’s 17,416 private unaided schools had not started or structured learning opportunities dur-
in-person schooling for classes I-V children. ing the pandemic, leading to an education
With the majority of the state’s private unaided schools, emergency of incalculable proportions. Yet,
in particular upscale CBSE/CISCE-affiliated schools hav- state governments are reopening schools as if
ing installed robust digital teaching-learning platforms and nothing serious occurred...”
their parent communities able to provide children home National Coalition on the Education Emergency, a group
learning infrastructure, private school managements re- of academics and educationists (Hindustan Times,
port that parents are satisfied with the status quo and are November 3)
26 EDUCATIONWORLD NOVEMBER 2021
