Children aren’t vaccinated. School buses haven’t started. The students had settled into the online mode and calling them to school now will break their rhythm… There may be a hundred reasons to stay home and continue with online classes but there’s one for offline lessons that overrules all else.
“I can’t believe how much attention I could pay in class today! The ambience was so conducive. This hasn’t happened once in 20 months of online classes,” beamed Kamalkoli Brahma, a Class IX student of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Education (SAIE) after her first day of school this Tuesday. It’s natural for students to look fatigued after school but Kamalkoli looked refreshed.
Government schools have been open — classes IX onwards — for over a week now and private schools are getting there. Some plan to start classes after the ongoing Board exams, others are conducting online and offline classes on alternate days… The system has bugs but it’s a start.
“Besides ISC and ICSE exams, we are having hybrid classes for the others. Since it is not compulsory for students to come to school, we are continuing with online sessions parallely,” said Payal Das, who is in charge of Salt Lake School’s (SLS) secondary section.
Debleena Bhattacharya, principal of SAIE, said they started classes from this week. “We are calling Class IX in the first half and XI in the second and dividing them further to allow distancing,” she said. Head master of BD Block’s Bidhannagar Government High School, Reyaz Ahmed, said that after a week their attendance stood at 60 to 65 per cent. “But it’s not possible for us to have hybrid classes,” he said.
Joy of a real class
A group of friends at Hariyana Vidya Mandir (HVM) was so happy on the first day of school that they broke into bhangra. There are many students like Rudroprasad Bandhypadhyay, who changed schools after X, but who are going to school regularly only now. “I’m meeting my classmates for the first time and they are helpful and friendly. And I feel more confident on meeting my teachers in person,” says the BJ Block resident.
Some cite health reasons. “My daughter has developed spondylitis and the doctor flatly blamed her for slouching to spend all her time on the mobile and laptop. Students have hardly had any exercise all these months. Even if senior classes no longer have games classes, at least they will walk from the bus stop to school,” says Sumana Modak, whose daughter is in Saltlake Point School (SPS).
A student is being thermal checked before entering Lake Town Government Sponsored Girls’ High School. (Right) A class under way at Narain Das Bangur Memorial Multipurpose School in Bangur Avenue. Showli Chakraborty
Covid concerns
At The Newtown School, only Class IX students have been called in for now and since online classes are still an option, barely 20-25 out of 170 students are turning up. “Parents of the others are not confident yet to send their wards so we are holding hybrid classes,” said principal Satabdi Bhattacharjee.
Since these 20-25 students are spread across five sections, a classroom of 40 now has barely five or six in physical attendance. “That is why we are not facing any challenge of maintaining Covid protocol. But we are still not getting the feel of students being back in school,” she said.
But distancing is a luxury other schools can ill afford. “The staff room allows no room for distancing and we have to have tea with our masks off there,” Sil says. “As for the classes, the students aren’t even audible with their masks on and so we have to ask them to take them off to answer.”
All these months, Radhika Dibor never sent her daughter even to tuition and now she doubts if her school will maintain Covid protocol. “Will the students maintain distancing? I can hear so much noise from outside,” said Dibor, waiting outside Lake Town Government Sponsored Girls’ High School.
“Ultimately we have to remember that we students are yet to get our jabs,” says Rudroprasad of HVM. “While I’m enjoying coming to school, it’s my elderly grandfather who’s dropping me off. I don’t want him to catch the infection through me.”
Students of FE Block’s Bidhannagar Municipal School banter before heading home. Brinda Sarkar
Apurba Saha of HVM says it’s torture waking up at 6am in winter to reach school. “My body clock now wakes me in time for the day section, even though I’m in morning section,” he grumbles.
Their diet has gone for a toss too. “My son would munch on chips or samosas all through his online classes. He’s bound to feel hungry in class now,” says Lopamudra Ghosh, whose ward is in SPS.
Incidentally, the return of the students has given hawkers a new lease of life. “I would make a decent living selling jhalmuri outside Hariyana school but was jobless these two years. Now I have returned to my spot,” says hawker Nishibar Golui.
Many students blatantly said they preferred online classes as they didn’t have to study for them. “We’ll will get zero in offline exams but 100 in online classes as everyone cheats there,” said a Class XI student of a Sector III school. Arya Ghosh of HVM said teachers’ scoldings were less severe on the virtual platform too.
Tanisha Singh of Salt Lake Point prefers online classes any day but is playing along as she doesn’t want to be disqualified from job interviews later for belonging to the “corona batch” that passed without taking tests.
Outgrown uniform
Like most others, Anjishnu Sengupta would wear only his school shirt during online classes. “This morning I realised the trousers have gotten tight around the belly,” said the SFX student. “So I came to school in my PT uniform.”
Apurba, of HVM, is going to school in his father’s black shoes as he’s outgrown his. “My daughter’s shoes weren’t fitting either but since it’s only a matter of 14 days of exams, she’s squeezing into them. I bet she’s remove them once she settles down to write the exam,” said Poly Mondal, waiting her for her ward outside SPS.
Another parent Moonmoon Banjerjee grouses that she had to shell out a grand to buy her daughter a new uniform just for these 14 days of exams. Many schools have different uniforms for the plus-two section but Kusum Sharma of Class XI in SFXS is making do with her old blazer.
Lack of rides
Parents like Aarati Sarkar are desperately trying to arrange for their ward’s ride to school. “The school bus is not plying and it’s tough for working parents to fetch their kids every day. Some of us are having to wait outside the school right from 10 to 4.30pm,” said Sarkar, whose daughter is in the Lake Town girls’ school.
Srishti Bheda, a new admission to HVM, was overheard asking the phuchka seller outsider her school if he knew of direct buses to Gariahat. “If offline classes really take off I’ll have to come up with a sustainable mode of transport,” she said.
Government schools are giving off at 4.30pm and students fear using public transport during that rush hour. “My parents are so scared of me catching Covid that they’ve asked me to come to school sparingly. I’ve only come twice in these two weeks,” says Disha Haldar of FE Block’s Bidhannagar Municipal School.
Luckiest are those like Trinita Mandal, also of the FE School. “I’ve decided to cycle to school,” says the Labony resident, zooming home.
A hybrid class in progress at The Newtown School. (Right) Parents wait outside Saltlake Point School for their wards to finish examinations. Brinda Sarkar
Mischief managed
What’s school life without a little mischief? On Monday two students stood outside their head master’s office, in a Sector I school, facing the wall. “We’ve been punished for talking,” one of them said, breaking into a smile. Soon two more boys were brought to the head master for an earful for their long hair.
“In our school some boys were even sent home from the gate for sporting long hair,” said Trinita of the FE Block school. Disha said some students got punished when the teacher realised their notebooks were blank and that they hadn’t copied any notes during online classes.
Then again some teachers are looking the other way. “Students are coming without uniforms, sporting outlandish hairdos and colours but if we go too strict with them they won’t even come to class,” says Anindita Sil, an ED Block resident who teaches at a government school in Dum Dum. “They have lost the habit of school and need half an excuse to stay away now.”
“But then I’ve also noticed that the rowdiness among students has disappeared. They no longer wish to fight, talk or disturb the class. It’s almost sad. Maybe its due to Covid-related issues at home, economic problems or depression,” says Sil.
Students walk out of St Francis Xavier School in Purbachal after hours. Brinda Sarkar
Undoing the online damage
An English teacher, of a Mahisbathan school for first-generation learners, is at sea. “It’s after taking offline classes that I realise they have followed nothing all these months,” says the resident of Eastern High. “All our lessons over WhatsApp fell on deaf ears. Many don’t even have the books. The only thing they’ve done in these two years is fill forms of government schemes and scholarships. Do I now revise what they haven’t learnt all these months or do I finish the syllabus?”
Their attendance is about 50 per cent now but the authorities are not sure if the absentees are scared if Covid, lethargic or have altogether dropped out of school.
All said and done, Sil feels the students’ attention will improve even if they sit captive in a room looking at and listening to a teacher.
Then again teachers of the Lake Town girls’ school felt online classes were better than nothing all these months. “We held informal online classes despite no order from the state,” said Camelia Islam, English teacher of the school. “A few students didn’t have smart phones but they attended classes along with friends who lived nearby. They managed somehow and now we can take it forward.”
Additional reporting by Sudeshna Banerjee
Are you in favour of attending school? Write to saltlake@abp.in