Pune: Maharashtra was badly hit by the raging COVID-19 pandemic in both the first and second waves. Schools, colleges and educational institutions have been closed indefinitely elevating the frustration level among students, teachers and parents.
However, with COVID cases dipping down across the country, Maharashtra is contemplating reopening offline classes for standard VIII to XII from July 15. Whether the decision to reopen will be appropriate, the Maharashtra State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) conducted a survey to understand the minds of the stakeholders.
The survey revealed that about 84 per cent parents across the state would now be inclined to send their wards to school. Parents and teachers participated in the survey on the link http://www.maa.ac.in/survey. The link is open till 11:55 pm on July 12.
“In a recent government resolution (GR), the state government has issued directives to start schools from classes eight to 12 in offline mode where Covid cases are negligible. Schools are directed to take all necessary precautions for the reopening like sanitization, mask and social distancing,” SCERT director Dinkar Temkar was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
The director added that schools have also been advised to call students alternatively to class so that not more than 20 students attend a class at the same time.
Around 2,25,194 parents took part in the survey and more cane participate till Monday, July 12. “Out of these, 1,89,095 parents have given their consent to send their ward to offline school whereas 36,099 that is 16.03 per cent of parents have denied their consent for offline schools,” Temkar said.
Talking about the survey, Temkar said that out of 2,25,194 parents who took part, 52.84 per cent — 1,18,182 parents — are from Maharashtra’s rural parts.
“Out of 2,25,194 parents who participated, 23,948, that is 10.63 percent, were from suburban parts of the state and 83,064, that is 36.89 per cent of parents are from cities across Maharashtra,” he said.
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