Schools have finally begun to reopen but like everything else, they’re not what they used to be. As per government orders, classes IX to XII can now hold face-to-face classes but there are plenty of precautions and still much fear about the long walk to school.

Schools got the nod to start classes from last Friday but with the strike call, the weekend and then Saraswati puja shortly afterwards, the first few days have been a trial run of sorts for many institutions.

Some private schools have only started practical classes for science students; others are calling students for offline exams. The government schools, however, have thrown the gates open to all students upwards of Class IX but attendance has been poor.

Still, no one is happier than the students who can finally walk through the gates of what was once their second home.

BGHS students click a selfie upon returning to school Debasmita Bhattacharjee

An emotion called school

“This one year, I sorely missed my friends, teachers, labs, even the building and benches,” says Snehasish Bar of St Francis Xavier (SFX) school. “Returning to school was an emotional moment for me and I broke into a smile when we were welcomed at the gate on the first day with chocolate bars.”

For Rohit Ghosh of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Education (SAIE), school isn’t just a place to learn but also socialise. “Yes, I did go out to my BB Block neighbourhood now and then but it’s nothing like having 43 peers in the room to interact with.”

Silajit Chakraborty, also of SAIE, says working together in the lab allows students to help one another and gives rise to healthy competition. “This wasn’t possible studying separately at home. Plus I missed our adda — cracking silly jokes, discussing football... At home, one doesn’t always have the privacy to talk freely over phone.”

Vidya Bhavan student walks through a sanitisation tunnel Brinda Sarkar

Precautions aplenty

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (BVB) has installed a sanitisation tunnel at its gate. A batch of 40 science students are being divided into two and called for practicals on different days. The 20 students are further divided into two classes — one at the lab and another at the make-shift lab.

“To avoid crowding, we schedule some batches to come in after the first one leaves but they use different staircases. Teachers are on duty at the stairs to ensure students practise distancing,” says principal Sujata Ghosh.

At the SFX assembly on the first day, students stood in circles marked out by the authorities and are being asked to wear two masks for safety.

“I felt like hugging my friends when I met them after so long but I knew we were being watched on CCTV so had to make do by talking from afar,” said Rohini Saha of Class X, Bidhannagar Government High School in BD Block.

At Hariyana Vidya Mandir (HVM), teachers are supervising even the tiffin break and students are allowed to use washrooms one at a time. Desks have been numbered and assigned to students to use. Thermal guns are being used to check temperatures and sanitisers have been handed over to guards at the entrance.

“Since many students have chosen to continue with online classes, our teachers are teaching in class with the camera on for both online and offline students,” says HVM principal Sanghamitra Banerjee. “This is especially for students who are out of town and cannot come back immediately. Also, there are some others who are still scared to come to school and want to wait and watch.”

At Kendriya Vidyalaya 1, near Labony Estate, less than 10 per cent of the class has been coming and teachers are teaching twice — online and then offline. “Parents are not realising how important it is for students to get practice of writing exams before their Boards,” says one of their teachers.

Saltlake Point School is asking students to show up for offline exams. “We shall only make exceptions for students who haven’t returned to town or are unwell. Some parents did have reservations initially but they are welcome to come and inspect our safety measures. We are seating no more than 18 students per room for the exams,” says academic advisor Juliana Shukla.

But at Salt Lake School on Monday, The Telegraph Salt Lake saw guards use sanitisers sparingly and not wear masks too while collecting projects from students. When asked about it, they evaded the question.

(1) Hariyana Vidya Mandir (HVM) students in the laboratory; (2) a Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (BVB) teacher imparts online lessons from an empty classroom;(3) a BVB teacher stands at the staircase to ensure students maintain social distancing (Brinda Sarkar); BGHS students play kabaddi on Monday (Debasmita Bhattacharjee); St Francis Xavier students in their chemistry laboratory; HVM students walk out of school in a single file

How to get to school

In the absence of the car pool, Karnika Purohit, a final year student of Our Lady Queen of the Missions (QMS), is now using app cabs to get to school. “But I’m not confident. The drivers aren’t wearing masks and there’s no point asking them to,” she sighs.

AC Block’s Ria Roy is taking the public bus to Bethune Collegiate School but the crowd on the bus is freaking her out. Snehasish got jittery seeing the crowd at the bus stop on the first day of school and decided to walk for half an hour to SFX from his home near Bengal Chemicals. “If buses remain crowded this is what I’ll do,” he says.

Rohit bought a cycle during the lockdown and now rides it from BB Block to SAIE.

Swarnajit Bhattacharya used to take the bus to New Town’s Apanjan apartments earlier but is now getting fetched by his parents. “This is saving me a lot of time, actually. I’m not complaining,” says the BVB student.

The rickshaw drivers at the stand outside BVB said they were hopeful about business picking up once schools reopened: “But very few kids are coming in the first place. And out of them, only 30 per cent are taking rickshaws. Most of them are commuting by private cars,” says rickshaw driver Debu Mondal.

To wake up early again

The screens were tiny and network lousy, but online classes provided a luxury offline classes could not — time.

“All these days I woke up at 11 but now I have to wake up at 7.30 for school,” Abanti Ghosh of QMS made a long face. “I didn’t miss school actually. I loved studying at home, in the comfort of my bed.”

Ansruta Nandi, also of QMS, says that since online classes eliminated commuting, it gave her more time to study.

“I had quite settled into the online system. Now that I have to come to school, I’m having to work out new time slots to fit tuitions,” said Swarnajit. The tutions are also online.

Masked up all day

Then there’s the agony of keeping the mask on for so long. “I’m having trouble breathing and it’s making me irritable,” says Rima Roy, a Class XI student of AE Block’s Bhagabati Devi Balika Vidyalaya. “I wish we had the option of continuing online classes,” laments the AC Block resident.

Her sister Ria, in Class XII, says that all the hours of keeping the mask on amounts to nothing when they have to remove it anyway to eat tiffin. “It defeats the whole purpose,” she shrugs.

Then there’s Soumyadeep Kar, a Class IX student of the BD Block school, who has an unusual issue with the mask. “I’ve grown a beard in the lockdown and now it itches if I wear a mask over it!”

Fun and games

While students are grateful to return to school, they are sorely missing sports and extra-curricular activities.

On Monday during tiffin break at the BD Block School, Class IX boys were seen playing kabaddi in the corridor since they were denied access to footballs and cricket kits.

They groped, kicked, rolled on the floor and laughed like they hadn’t in months. These were children who had a year stolen from them. “Our parents have lots of rules for us — don’t go close to others, don’t share tiffin — but we are leaving these sermons at the gate and coming to school,” said a student.

Another one said friendship was sharing tiffin and that they were sanitising their hands before eating out of one another’s boxes.

But final year students are dead serious about the situation and jokes in class are few and far between. “Maybe if someone takes off his mask to mouth pipette in the chemistry lab, we get a glimpse of someone’s face and remark at how he’s put on weight or grown a moustache,” says Rishiraj Roy of SFX.

Silajit says he missed receiving a farewell the most. “Last year, we gave a grand farewell to our seniors but we barely got to see the school the whole year,” says the Class XII SAIE student.

This is why the BD school students were so desperate to hold Saraswati puja. “We missed sports, functions, farewells — everything — and so pleaded with our teachers to at least let us celebrate this,” says Arijit Roy of Class XII.

Class XII students of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Education at the computer lab

Thanks, but no thanks

Despite the temptations of face-to-face classes, many, if not most, students have opted to continue online. Rudroprasad Bandyopadhyay of HVM is one such. “It’s not worth it,” reasons the BJ Block resident. “Our exams begin on March 1 and there’s no point breaking the routine for barely a fortnight. If I was in Class XII, I might have decided otherwise but being in Class XI I can afford to take this decision now,” he says.

Sreejana Sharma, of Class XII, (humanities), SAIE, has opted for online classes and exams. “This isn’t an ideal situation but we’ve got used to it. The end is near and so I’m just putting up with it,” said the resident of Sector V.

Looming fears

On Monday, about 15 parents of Class XI students of BVB had gone to meet the principal to seek an option for online exams. “Neither are our children prepared to appear for full-length exams offline nor is it safe. What if someone gets Covid after appearing for one offline exam? Will he be promoted? What about students who are still recovering from Covid? They cannot sit at a stretch for three hours and that too with masks,” the parents reasoned.

Some guardians of Saltlake Point School students are in the same quandary. “The school is insisting on offline exams but we are not confident about sending my kids yet,” says a parent of a Class XI student.

Some teachers mention how 150 students and 34 teachers tested positive at a government school in Kerala after it reopened earlier this month. “The urgent need was only for the outgoing Class X and XII students. What was the need to bring Class IX and Class XI?” asks a teacher of a Salt Lake-based government school. “If a class has to be broken into two groups, we don’t even have so many teachers to take separate classes or rooms,” she says. School has reopened for students of classes IX and above in state-run schools from Friday.

At SAIE, the authorities had sought consent from students of Class X but barely 15 per cent parents agreed to let their wards come. “They are still scared,” says principal Debleena Bhattacharya. “We were ready to hold offline exams with distanced seating but things did not work out due to the lack of consent.

There is mixed reaction in Class XII. “While in commerce and humanities streams, the positive response from guardians was barely 30 per cent, for Class XII science students the figure is almost 90 per cent as they are aware of the necessity of the practical classes. So we are taking offline exams only for them. But common subjects like English cannot be taken offline as commerce and humanities students are also involved.”

Teachers suspect that “a bit of laziness” has crept into the students too. Online exam cannot be held for long hours. “They are at best for 20-25 minutes for the MCQ (multiple choice questions) tests. But we plan to have longer tests for both Class X and XII which would be a combination of objective and descriptive exams. We are asking them to mail the scanned files as well as submit the hard copies in school as it becomes difficult for the teachers to check so much on screen,” the SAIE principal says.

Anindita Sil, a teacher of a government-aided school, said she has been disappointed with the poor attendance. “Nonetheless, I am overjoyed at being able to take offline classes and shall put in extra effort,” says the resident of ED Block’s Sourav Abasan. “I shall also call up the students personally and ask them to come.”

Additional reporting by Showli Chakraborty and Sudeshna Banerjee