Most private English medium schools of Ranchi did not resume campus lessons for classes 8, 9, 11, on Monday and decided to postpone reopening till the start of the next academic session citing lack of resources and manpower to implement necessary Covid-19 safeguards, and those that did start classes witnessed poor attendance on Day One, leading to speculation that they may continue with online teaching till April.

After remaining shut due to the nationwide lockdown for close to a year, schools, colleges and coaching centres, along with public parks and cinema halls, were allowed to reopen from March 1. For schools, the government order, however, allowed offline classes in addition to the existing practice of online teaching only for middle and higher class students.

Don Bosco Public School in Kokar was among the handful of schools that held on-campus classes on Monday. Principal Father Jyotish Kr. Kindo said that although there wasn’t 100 per cent attendance, those who turned up were happy to be back on campus.

“We are following social distancing in classes and have made arrangements for thermal scanning, sanitisers and soaps for washing as prescribed by the state government. Since other classes are closed, currently we don’t have a problem accommodating students in accordance with social distancing norms,” he said.

But most premier schools maintained they were already burdened with conducting online annual exams, and would, therefore, reopen in April.

A class is on at Ursuline School in Ranchi on Monday. Picture by Manob Chowdhary

Only a few students attended classes at Chotanagpur Government Girls High School at Tharpakna in Ranchi on Monday. Picture by Manob Chowdhary

DPS principal Ram Singh said that after reviewing the ground situation, they have decided to ask students to come to the campus from April. “Currently, it’s time for annual examinations for all classes in the majority of schools. In such a situation, it will be difficult to handle offline classes along with online exams. Unlike earlier times, one has to take lots of aspects into consideration to ensure the safety of children and staff because of the ongoing pandemic. So we have decided to resume offline teaching for classes permitted by the government from April," he said.

Oxford Public School also announced reopening in April. “Almost all top schools will resume campus classes from April. Many parents weren’t keen to send students at a time when Covid cases are again rising. Ranchi is getting the maximum cases out of the state's daily increase. In such a situation, parents don't seem to be keen to send their wards to school. April will be the best time to resume,” said a school official.

Samarjit Jana, principal of JVM Shyamali School, agreed. “We are readying our campus to reopen from April for Classes 8, 9 and 11 in a phased manner,” he said.