Three in four students want to return to schools, meet friends: Survey

They have missed the schools for months and at least three out of four among the students are eager to return to classrooms and meet up with friends though a large proportion is either unaware or have incomplete knowledge of guidelines, a new survey has claimed.

The survey conducted in February and March this year among 26,860 students in the age group of 8-18 years across 12 states claimed 49% of the respondents opted for a blend of online learning tools and offline education delivery amid concerns about surging Covid-19 cases.

An "overwhelming 78% students are happy" about the prospect of reopening of schools "but 22% students are anxious and scared" of meeting their school friends and interacting with them, according to the survey by the Smile Foundation.

As many as 39% of students are not aware or have incomplete knowledge of the school reopening guidelines while 41% are not fully comfortable following Covid-19 protocol in schools, it said.

"Over the past year, students have been learning through a combination of various online and offline modes. However, there has certainly been a significant gap in learning. Considerable time and effort must be devoted to building students' confidence in returning to schools," Smile Foundation Co-founder and Executive Trustee Santanu Mishra said.

At least 83% of the students are happy about meeting with their friends while 52% were found to be concerned about consuming mid-day meals when schools reopen, the survey claimed.

When asked about convenient learning platform, the survey said 35% of the students preferred offline while 26% preferred online. Among the students, 39% preferred both online and offline learning.

The survey also reached out to 75 teachers in 12 states -- 44% of them feel students will not be able to catch up with learning as per the conventional grades’ standard when they return to schools, while 42% of teachers felt maintaining Covid-19 protocol will be the other major challenge for returning students.