According to the survey conducted by LocalCircles, leading community social media platform, 62% of parents in Maharashtra are unwilling to send their children to schools from January 24 amidst a surge of COVID cases and high-test positivity rate between 20-25% in the state, 16% parents are already sending their children to schools and another 11% will send them to attend in-person classes.
According to many parents, the test positivity rate should drop to 5% or lower for them to send. The survey received 4,976 responses from residents of Maharashtra from all districts. 67% respondents were men while 33% respondents were women. 44% respondents were from tier 1, 31% from tier 2 and 25% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.
The survey asked citizens, “As the Government opens in-person schools across Maharashtra from Jan 24th, do you plan to send your children or grandchildren to school?” In response, the majority of 62% of parents of school children in Maharashtra said “No”, indicating that they are unwilling to send their children to school from Jan 24th. However, 11% of citizens said, “Yes, will send from Jan 24th” and 16% said “Already sending our children.” 11% did not have an opinion. This question in the survey received 4,976 responses.
Maharashtra reported on Friday 48,270 COVID cases from 2,05,938 tests conducted and there were 37 related deaths. The Test Positivity Rate (TPR) in the state continues to remain high at 23.4%. With children under 15 being unvaccinated and between 15-18 only partially vaccinated and the highly transmissible nature of Omicron, many parents are concerned about sending children for in-person school. In the community discussions, many of them have highlighted long term implications of COVID as well and the need for in-person schools to only start when test positivity rates fall to 5% or lower.
According to LocalCircles, it has been closely tracking parents’ willingness to send their children to attend in-person classes in school at a national and state level since the pandemic started.
