PRINCE KUMAR
Ranchi, Nov 29: Carmel School, Ranchi has taken Jharkhand’s Covid-19 protocols for granted. The school is not following the Covid-19 guidelines by providing only offline classes for classes 6 to 10, not maintaining social distancing and making attendance compulsory.
A section of parents said that the school has not even asked for the consent from parents and are only providing offline classes dismantling the online classes which they earlier used to provide.
“I have to send my child to school as they have made attendance compulsory defying the orders of the government,” a parent said.
“The school is providing offline classes from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm which is a violation of the government guidelines to limit offline classes to 4 hours and only till 12 pm,” another parent said.
A parent expressing his helplessness said that the threat of the Omicron variant of the corona has arrived in India and still the school administration is not concerned about the health of the students.
“We had made a group of concerned parents to complain against the school administration but many have pulled back their hands thinking about the future of their children,” he said.
Talking to the students attending the offline classes, they said that two students are made to sit on a single bench and are instructed to wear masks at all times.
M Steffi, principal of Carmel School, when contacted for her comment on the issue, didn’t receive the call even after 6 attempts.
The state government had earlier decided to reopen schools for classes 6 to 8 students from September 20, 2021, onward. The schools were also ordered to reopen with strict adherence to standard operating procedures issued by the government.
As per the notice issued by Jharkhand Disaster Management Division, the classes in schools will have to continue in blended mode, i.e., online and offline.
According to the SOP, student’s attendance is not mandatory as classes would continue through both online and offline modes. However, students must submit consent letters from their respective parents to attend on-campus classes in Jharkhand schools.
