The Ministry of Home Affairs issued guidelines for Unlock 4 permitted partial reopening of schools from 21 September.
“Students of classes 9 to 12 may be permitted to visit their schools, in areas outside containment zones only, on a voluntary basis, for taking guidance from their teachers,” said the guidelines.
In northeast too, with a mixed feeling of thrill and apprehension, students of classes IX and XII attended their classes in small batches starting from September 21.
Reportedly, students in the rural areas recorded a better rate compared to the urban areas.
Notably students will be permitted to go to school only with prior written consent from parents and only 50 per cent of the teaching and non-teaching staff will be called in.
Speaking to Northeast Today, parents of city based school in Guwahati said “We cannot let our kids go to the school as we are witnessing a steady rise in COVID cases.”
“It’s like signing a death warrant and letting kids go to get affected to the virus,” they revealed.
On the other hand students were seeing excited to go back to the school after a 6 months long break and difficulty faced from virtual (online) classes.
“We are happy to be back to school and meet our teachers and class mates. I was really difficult to do online classes as it was hard for us to keep on recharging our internet along with assignments, ” said a student.
Meanwhile, studies have shown that children are less susceptible to severe Covid-19 as compared to adults.
India is not the first to reopen schools. The US did so in in early August and within two weeks, it was found that there had been a 90 per cent increase in the number of Covid cases in children. A report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association found that Covid clusters were found in Florida, Georgia and Mississippi schools days after reopening.