At least two private schools — Calcutta Girls’ and South Point — are not allowing the students for whom in-person classes will resume on Thursday the option of attending those classes online.
Both institutions are resuming in-person classes for students of classes IX and XI on Thursday.
During the earlier reopening in November, Calcutta Girls’ High School had given students the option of attending online or offline classes.
Among the other schools that are resuming in-person classes on Thursday are The Heritage School, Sushila Birla Girls’ School, Indus Valley World School and Delhi Public School Ruby Park.
The state government has allowed resumption of on-campus classes for students of classes VIII to XII from Thursday.
“We have to go back to school and we are not doing hybrid classes (both online and offline) for the students for whom in-person classes will resume tomorrow because it is difficult for teachers to do justice to both groups,” said an official of Calcutta Girls’.
An official of South Point said their focus now was on revision classes and exams. “There won’t be simultaneous online classes when in-person classes will be held on the campus,” the official said.
Many parents are worried because their children have got only one Covid shot. Many are yet to be eligible for the jab.
The father of a Class VIII student said the students who are yet to be vaccinated should be allowed the option of attending classes online from the safety of home.
“My daughter is not vaccinated. If she goes to school she may catch the virus. And if she does, she will anyway have to stay away from school for several days,” the father said.
Some private schools are asking for the consent of parents before reopening but several others are not, a departure from the practice before the two brief reopenings last year — in February and November.
In one school, only a third of the parents of the students in classes VIII and IX are willing to send their children to class. In another school, of the 210 students of Class VIII, the parents of only 90 have consented to send their children to school.
The heads of several schools said as the government had given permission to resume on-campus classes, parents’ consent is not required.
“We are not taking consent because the state has given us the directive (to reopen). Also, the seating arrangement has been done with only 15 students in one class for the exam,” said Anjana Saha, principal of Mahadevi Birla World Academy.
Terence Ireland, principal of St James’ School, said the consent would have been required had the schools taken the decision on their own.
“But parents have the right to object and not send their children to school. So far that has not come up. If it does, we will look into it and offer options (of online classes)," said Ireland.
Some of the schools are planning to conduct on-campus exams for classes IX to XII.
The term 1 exams of both ICSE and CBSE were held at schools.
