Not child’s play: Parents worry about sending toddlers back to school

Playschools and kindergartens will re-open today after the BBMP granted them permission to operate for two hours a day. However, it is a cause of concern for parents, who worry that children might not follow Covid-protocol correctly. Kumaran P. reports

The idea of young children returning to schools is a matter of concern for parents across the city. On Saturday, the BBMP even granted playschools and kindergartens to function for two hours a day starting Monday. Life is returning to normal, slowly but surely, with the night curfew being lifted last week and the Department of Public Instruction issuing guidelines to restart LKG and UKG classes.

Worried parents argue that they, along with other stakeholders, should have been consulted before a decision was made. “Yes, restarting schools is necessary. But the government and a handful of experts cannot make this decision on their own,” says Sushmitha Gupta, a parent from JP Nagar.

Schools – and the government – may be acting with the best intentions, putting all manner of protocol in place to ensure that kids are safe. However, whether or not children understand the gravity of the situation and the importance of social distancing and other Covid Appropriate Behaviour is another matter entirely. “Do you think children will stay away from their friends? Will they listen when they are asked to sanitise their hands regularly? They don’t understand what the virus is and what it can do,” lamented one parent. “They are children, after all. We can train them at home as well, but they don’t know how to maintain a proper distance.”

Moreover, as people started working from home, many families have shifted base, returning to their hometowns and away from school campuses. Pallavi Sen, a parent, says, “My husband and I shifted to our hometown during the pandemic as we will now be working from home permanently. I have to move back to send my child to school. Why haven’t any parents been consulted on the matter?”
The Department of Public Instruction has left the matter to the discretion of parents and attendance is not mandatory. However, experts are surprised to learn that full-day classes will take place as usual, from 9.30 am to 3.309 pm, from Monday to Friday.

A senior official from the Department of Education said, “We have done this only after a lot of discussions and on the recommendation of health experts. Precautions have been taken and schools have been issued extensive guidelines on how to function.”

Several parents have written to schools saying they cannot send their kids back. Mili, another parent, says, “I don’t wish to send my LKG child back to school right away, even if the government has relaxed all rules. We have written a letter to the school saying our child cannot attend physical classes and have requested the school to organize better online classes.”

Some schools in Bangalore are already on board with hybrid classes. Murali Mohan, a member of a private school management said, “Teachers conducted classes with their laptop cameras on. If there are students in class, we teach them and conduct online sessions too simultaneously. This is the hybrid model but we feel that we need to experiment with it for some time to fully understand how it works. “