A section of students who are down with Covid or have had it in the recent past are worried about when they can get the jab.
The worry stems from lack of clarity about what would be expected if vaccination becomes compulsory for attending classes or writing exams.
Several schools have not yet spelt out whether they would want all children to be vaccinated before they come back for in-person classes.
At least one of them said that it would be the parents’ responsibility to get their children vaccinated.
Schools said that they would be expected to follow the rules laid by the board especially for Classes X and XII and the government or health department guidelines.
For adults, the guidelines say that vaccination can be taken three months after they tested positive for Covid.
Several schools have been holding vaccination camps on their campus but the attendance of students has been lower than expected.
Students who had registered also dropped out, some schools noticed.
At La Martiniere for Boys, about 80 of 440 students from Classes XI and XII took the jab in school.
At South Point, around 1,000 students got vaccinated last week of 3,000 who are eligible.
At Indus Valley World School, 130 of 500 have registered and some dropped out.
Some students have taken vaccines privately and not at school.
“We will encourage students to take the vaccine (before coming to school) and in case they are not able to, we would have to take adequate precaution for everybody,” said Father M Thamacin Arulappan, principal, St Xavier’s Collegiate School.
A father of a Class X student said that his daughter got Covid about 10 days back and cannot be vaccinated. “We will have to be sure when she can get the shot,” he said.
Schools said it is difficult to come to a decision now.
“A significant number of our students cannot get vaccinated because either they are infected or quarantined. But there is so much uncertainty that we cannot take any decision without consulting the guidelines,” said Amita Prasad, director, Indus Valley World School.
