Students from all four classes — IX to XII — came to several government schools on Monday though the state secondary education board had on Sunday evening split their schedule because the guardians could not be alerted on time.
Schools allowed the students of classes IX and XI to attend classes on Monday along with those of classes X and XII who are to come on odd days in a week and initiated proceedings to prepare the new attendance calendar in consultation with the parents.
According to a notification issued on Sunday, schools under the board and the higher secondary council will follow an odd-even pattern in which classes X and XII will attend physical classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and classes IX and XI on Tuesdays and Thursdays “in order to maintain the distance norms”.
Subhrojit Dutta, the headmaster of Hindu School said, even as the school authorities informed the parents of each student over WhatsApp about the fresh notification, several guardians did not read the message till Monday morning.
“So students of all the four classes came on Monday and we held the offline classes following the routine in force since November 16 when the schools reopened. Some of the guardians said they needed time because pool car operators have to be informed about the revised schedule,” said Dutta.
At Sanskrit Collegiate School too students of all the four classes came and the previous routine was followed.
Several students from Class IX and XI came as the information might not have reached many at such a short notice, said headmaster Debabrata Mukherjee.
“Since classes on alternate non-schooling days have to be again conducted on digital platforms, the routine has to be worked out accordingly. Some of our students encounter resource constraints, coming in the way of attending online classes. We have to think of finding an alternative way for them also,” said Mukherjee.
Students of all the four classes came to Hare School, also located on College Street, on Monday. “Every one was allowed to attend classes,” said headmaster Jayanta Bhattacharya.
An official of the school education department said since they received feedback from the heads of the institutions that guardians were wary of sending their wards on all the days in a week amid the pandemic, the revised schedule had been worked out.
Parimal Bhattacharya, the headmaster of Jadavpur Vidyapith, said while calling students of IX and XI on even days, they would call students of Class X for writing offline evaluations for a few days from Tuesday.
“Through offline evaluations we have to detect the learning gaps that many of them have suffered while attending classes over digital platforms,” said Bhattacharya.