Telangana: Chaos reigns over schools re-opening

Hyderabad: Chaos. It is the only word that one can think of as far as school reopening is concerned. Parents, students, teachers and school managements are all sailing in the same boat as confusion looms on the reopening of schools.

Even as the principals of government schools were preparing to allow students of Grade 9 and 10 as per the central government guidelines, the Department of School Education issued instructions to wait for further instructions. Chava Ravi, general secretary, Telangana State United Teachers Federation (TSUTF), says, "Many students were sent back. There is a lot of confusion. The department needs to issue clear guidelines on the reopening of schools in a phased manner."

Several principals of private schools are unsure about the guidelines. Rachna, principal, Unicent School, Nagole says, "There are so many circulars by the government each contradicting the other which leave us confused. We, however, plan to call limited students who wish to clear doubts from next week for an hour."

"Corporate schools have been conducting online classes for the last five months, and so are budget schools, but for how long can we continue as we are running out of our financial reserves," says, S Madhusudhan, Telangana Recognised Schools Managements Association (TRSMA). He further adds, "The immediate need is for the education department to issue clear-cut guidelines on phased manner of reopening of schools and if an any reduction of syllabus. The CBSE schools have clarity as far as syllabus is concerned.

Also, private budget schools that take the burden of 50% of the student population need handholding to come out of the crisis and it is the duty of the government." R Raj Kumar, a parent and resident of Kavadiguda says, "We were under the impression that we could send out children to clear doubts as per the guidelines issued by the government but school managements say that they are yet to hear from the Department of School Education. Already we have lost five months. Online classes can never replace traditional teaching."

Government schools

♥ Government schoolteachers were asked to go to school on August 27 and continued working till September 11

♥ Online lessons started from September 1 through Doordarshan channels

♥ Since September 21, 50 % teachers were asked to work from home on rotational basis

Residential Welfare Schools

♥ The social welfare and tribal welfare residential schools have called all teachers to be present in schools

♥ In many schools, students numbering in hundreds are attending classes

♥ BC and minority residential schools are, however, still closed

Budget schools

♥ None of the budget schools have reopened schools even to allow students to approach them for doubts but have been conducting online classes

♥ Smaller schools in bastis have been shut and many are on the verge of closure

♥ School managements say that last academic year's fee is still pending and they are not in a position to run schools

♥ Demands include sanitisation of schools by the civic body, waiver of property tax and concession in electricity charges