Is it safe to reopen schools?

Administrators in both Central and state governments are taking stock of the current Covid-19 situation on a daily basis on the issue of reopening of closed schools either by July-end or by the beginning of August 2020.

Recently, Beijing reopened schools but closed them again in the backdrop of the second wave of Covid-19 in the city. The Beijing authorities restarted schools after taking all possible precautions and brought the whole situation under full control but all these ended up being futile.

The Beijing experience will be a lesson to the Indian authorities on the issue of reopening of schools, be it in July, August or September 2020. Similar cases were reported from countries like France and Israel when they had decided to restart schools after lockdown. Historically, pandemics have always had a second wave. Beijing and Wuhan, where the virus is said to have originated from, have experienced the same.

In the absence of a life-saving vaccine, all stakeholders of Indian school education should seriously have a second thought about the safety of children. It is important when states like Haryana have resolved to reopen the schools from July onwards (in phases). Needless to say, India at present is the fourth hardest-hit country by the virus after the USA, Brazil and Russia.

Let me stress on contradictions in the last year’s (2019-20) assessment and results. Though the new academic calendar year has commenced, few states are yet to complete their previous year’s class X (SSLC) and XII (PUC) examinations. For example, the education department of Karnataka is preparing a ground for the commencement of Class X (SSLC) examinations from June 25 and to be completed within 10 days.

Karnataka just completed second year PUC exams last week (June 18). At the same time, states like Gujarat, Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh etc, have already published their 10th and 12th board results. A few more states are expected to declare their board results by the end of next week.

Similarly, Central Boards such as CBSE and CISCE are waiting for the Supreme Court’s verdict expected to be delivered shortly about the future of their X, XII pending examinations. The CISCE has given a novel option to their examinees of writing the examination or not writing it.

The CISCE will make the result based on students’ internal assessment and its proportions. The pass mark for class X (ICSE) examinations is 35% (80% written examination and 20% internal assessment by affiliated schools).

It is an untold fact that the affiliated schools normally award entire 20% marks for their own candidates in most subjects and 50% for a few skill-based subjects like physical education, computer application etc.

Schools never share this assessment chemistry with the parents and students. They think pre-board exams and internal assessment conducted by schools are little tougher than the board examinations. A similar option was there for the CBSE students, that is, a school could go for school-based or board-based examinations. But the CBSE has discontinued this option.

India has the second-largest student population in the world of 30 crore from 12 classes enrolled in about 16 lakh schools. Some of them are overseas students studying in Indian schools abroad or pursuing foreign curriculums like IB, Edexcel, IGCSE etc. About 71% of Indian students are enrolled in government schools (Central and state) or schools aided by the government. Private or independent schools in India draw the remaining 29% of schoolgoers.

Large number of schools in and around containment zones

One-fifth of schools are located in and around Covid-19 hotspots or cantonment zones in cities such as Mumbai, Surat, Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Jaipur and Kolkata.

It was on March 18 that the Central Board of Secondary Education rescheduled the remaining examinations for Class X and XII to later days. The number of positive cases reported in India as on March 18 was only 153 and the reported death toll was less than a dozen. The cases reported on June 20 was more than four lakh. For a single day, the figures are shocking - 14,740 cases and 365 deaths.

This means, in the beginning, stage of Covid-19, schools were closed for summer vacations and were taken care of by their parents at home. Students from residential schools and international schools moved away to different destinations to join their parents.

Reopening schools means calling these migrated students from different locations back to schools. Is such a step safe for the students?

That brings us to the question – is 2020-21 a zero academic year or a gap year? Debates are happening across the country to declare 2020-21 season a zero academic or assessment year or a break (gap) year for formal learning and testing.

Let the present distance learning or informal learning in isolation (online) continue for the current year until the right formula of a life-saving vaccine come up. This is the way most Indian parents, education activists, environmentalists and human rights activists respond to the question, “is it safe to reopen the Indian schools now?”

(The writer is a former Principal and Inspector of CISCE Board, New Delhi)