MP Birla Foundation Higher Secondary School

MP Birla Foundation Higher Secondary School, Behala, started conducting online classes immediately after the lockdown had begun. “Apart from the regular lessons, our focus is on the music, dance, art and craft classes to keep the students occupied during their home-bound stay,” said principal Herbert George. The institute is sanitising the school compound every day as some staff members and the principal are visiting it. “The security personnel are doing thermal screening and hand sanitisation of everyone entering the school premises. Putting on face mask and sanitising one’s hands are compulsory on the premises,” he said.

HM schools

The management of Hindmotor High School and HM Education Centre has adopted a sympathetic approach towards the schools’ parents amidst the pandemic. They have reduced the fee structure and also waived off the tuition fee for a month. “We gave special concessions to a few parents, who couldn’t afford to pay the fees. We also allowed a few students, whose parents haven’t yet been able to pay the fees, to attend online classes regularly,” said Sudipta Bose, rector-cum-manager of HM schools.

The schools have also implemented measures to limit the spread of Covid-19 on the school premises. “Since some maintenance work is going on, we have been carrying out the sanitisation process in the compound regularly. We have also distributed masks to the community at large,” said Bose.

The schools have been conducting online classes for all the students from nursery to Class XII. “Our teachers are working full time and conducting regular classes online,” said Bose.

St Augustine’s Day School, Barrackpore

St Augustine’s Day School, Barrackpore, recently organised its first online annual prize day celebrations. Students of classes VI to XII, along with their parents, were part of the event that started with a welcome song and prayer. The participants performed from their homes. The event was divided into two sessions, involving the middle and senior schools. MP Birla Planetarium director (research and academic) Debiprasad Duari was the chief guest for the middle school, while surgeon Kunal Sarkar presided over the senior school’s celebrations. Principal Jhuma Biswas said online classes had started since April. “Parents and students are quite used to the set-up by now, and most of them log in for all online events. We had invited even those parents whose kids did not win any prize,” she said.