BHOPAL : Opening of schools from class 1 onwards from September 20 has left the parents fuming. Even the parents’ body Madhya Pradesh Palak Mahasangh has opposed the move.
A committee headed by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday decided to reopen schools for students of classes 1-5. However, consent from the parents still remains mandatory for children to attend the school.
“The order issued by the school education department clearly mentions that consent from parents is mandatory. Same is the situation in colleges where students will not be allowed to enter colleges without parent’s written consent,” said state general secretary of MP Palak Mahasangh, Prabodh Pandya.
The school education department, on the other hand has published pamphlets to be distributed in the upcoming Parent Teachers Meeting (PTM) urging parents to send the children to school.
“Your children will be taken care of in schools against corona pandemic. Send your children to school on days prescribed by the teachers without any worry,” says the pamphlet meant for distribution among parents.
“If school education department is trying to convince parents to send their wards without any worry and so confident about their arrangements then why do they need consent letter from parents,” asks Pandya.
School education minister, Inder Singh Parmar had said recently that schools should open up as children are lagging behind in education and there is no alternative to education in classrooms.
However, the Palak Mahasangh differs on minister’s reasons. “The state government is under pressure from the school operators lobby. Schools were unable to realize full fees from the parents therefore the schools have been opened,” said president of Palak Mahasangh, Kamal Vishwakarma.
“Most of the schools have a classroom of 20X20 ft. If one follows corona protocol strictly then it can accommodate 16 students only whereas one class has strength of 40 students,” quipped Vishwakarma. I doubt overall preparations made by schools for students’ safety, he added.
District Education Officer, Nitin Saxena said that all government instructions related to corona safety will be followed by all schools and monitoring will be done by the officials.
In the first phase, classes 11 and 12 were opened with 50% of strength from July 26. Later, schools were permitted to open for the students of class 6 and above. With the new order, now schools could operate with all classes open.
