THE PARENTS’ CONCERNS -

 

The Education minister himself made it very clear that the offline exams/classes should not be compulsory. In many other states it has been observed that in spite of taking full precautions a large number of students and teachers have been infected within days of reopening of school. The school may check the data of COVID positive students and teachers after reopening the schools for example Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and so on. 
 

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/08/re-opening-schools-too-soon-in-developing-countries-could-lead-to-much-faster-spread-of-covid-19/

 

The school shouldn’t experiment with the health of the students in this present situation. Conducting exams inside school and taking regular offline classes would only affect the students and expose them to the health risks. Contracting an infection is more probable in closed places with several people even more with those under 18. There are many students who suffer from chronic asthmatic conditions. As we know, COVID-19 is a respiratory disease, so students with the complication will be more prone to this infection. It goes without saying that boards are very important in one’s life, so the school might be reopened with full precautions for conducting practical classes provided that those students who will not give consent are NOT forced to or penalized for not attending classes or exams. There is no meaning of risking the students right in this juncture of their life for petty annual examinations which can be taken via online mode with proper invigilation. So offline exams for class 11 must be avoided for the better cause of students.
 

Even if one child is infected, it will impact the whole class, us parents, teachers and other eldery family members in our homes. All students and teachers will have to go into quarantine. It might also be that these children will not be able to write exams. This would really be unfair to the students.
 

Many of us do NOT have private transportation and come from afar, using public transport will increase risk. Teachers too use public transport.
 

We are not aware whether all teachers of the school have been vaccinated or not. The children of course are NOT eligible for taking the vaccines. With that there are several students who have asthma and wearing a mask continuously for 5-6 hours is detrimental to their health.
 

In case the school is at this stage concerned about whether the online examinations are conducted fairly or not, we suggest that each child have a second screen active for invigilation during the entire time of writing the exams. And we sincerely hope that the school can lay this much confidence on us, the parents, to ensure that our children write their exams honestly.
 

Maxfort School Dwarka, with so many students and so little classrooms space (when seen in the backdrop of social distancing seating pattern), has decided to hold offline exams, with subject teachers showing enthusiasm for the same- one going so far as to claim covid was over and the vaccine is publicly available (FALSE, the Government of India begs to differ). They have not taken into consideration the messy process of disposal, the very shady temperature checks which sometimes never reveal a person has covid, asymptomatic patients, and most of all, the students. Each one of us comes from a different socio-economic background, with aged family members, family members who have comorbidities such as asthma and so on, vehicular access to the school, and so on and so forth. This, all in all, complicates the issue of offline examinations, and thereby poses a huge risk to all involved- students, teachers, admin staff and students family members. 
 

Last but not the least we had prior commitments before the exam was re-scheduled, we as parents want to be there for our children however  such unilateral decision to change the team dates has impacted our professional life too
 

We assume that the Maxfort School authority is well aware of the above stated situations. In Spite of knowing all this the school has given a declaration form instead of a Form of Consent and has made signing it compulsory giving Students and Parents no other option regarding the opening of the School and the mode of examination. This does not line up with the instruction given by the Education Minister. As written in the last line, the school will also take absolutely NO responsibility if any student is affected by the virus. The school is trying to bring students of class 9 & 11 forcefully to school for offline exams but at the same time they are not ready to take ANY responsibility whatsoever.

 

Links to the articles which mention the infections spread on the reopening of schools-

School reopening news: Around 190 students, 70 teachers of two reopened government schools in Kerala test positive for covid-19 | Zee Business (zeebiz.com)

COVID-19: Two Malappuram schools shut after 262, including students and teachers, test positive | Kerala News | Manorama English (onmanorama.com)

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/08/re-opening-schools-too-soon-in-developing-countries-could-lead-to-much-faster-spread-of-covid-19/