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| Schools need to reopen | | | Voices to seek reopening of schools in Jammu and Kashmir are becoming shriller as the COVID-19 cases are on decline. Only one district in J&K i.e. Srinagar is witnessing a spike but in other districts the pandemic has been controlled.
People are asking if all the activities can resume then why schools can’t reopen. Even the experts are of the opinion that the educational institutions can reopen as the adults in most of the districts have already got vaccinated and schools can open if the COVID-19 sops are followed in letter and spirit. But it seems that the government is waiting for children to get vaccinated and is in no mood to take any chances.
The pandemic has shuttered schools and forced students, who could, to study online at home. There has been a long period of learning loss for the students of Jammu and Kashmir as compared to their counterparts in other parts of the country or elsewhere. It has been a major setback in itself, affecting the physical and mental health of most students besides depriving them of vital skill development.
For the past two years students have been engaged through virtual classes or at some places teachers are holding classes under the open sky for the benefit of the students.
However, as experts keep on repeating, it can never be a substitution for formal and structured schooling where students learn through teacher-student interactions.
The COVID-19 has hit the education sector hard, besides students, teachers working in private schools also faced the brunt of the pandemic as many of them were sacked. The non-teaching staff too had to lose jobs. Despite the private schools curtailing the expenses they continued to charge the tuition fee from the parents and some schools also collected the transport fee.
It appears, now the pandemic is on its last legs and schools should open. The government needs to formulate a policy to ensure that the schools don’t charge exorbitant annual fees and make parents pay through their nose.
Children have to return to schools in any case as they cannot remain confined within their homes forever. The vaccines for children will come by early next year but the process has to commence to get students back to schools. |
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