Vadodara: Parents’ body protests mandatory offline classes

VPA argued that most parents of students attending schools will have to purchase uniforms and other school supplies essential for offline classes, with just two months to go for the academic session to end, Pillai said.

Gujarat, Gujarat latest news, Vadodara latest news, Vadodara Parents' Association, school reopening, covid, coronavirus, offline classes, indian express

Members of the Vadodara Parents’ Association at the collector's office on Saturday. (Bhupendra Rana)

Even as the state government has directed mandatory resumption of offline classes for schools and universities from February 21, the Vadodara Parents’ Association (VPA) has submitted a memorandum to Collector A. B. Gor objecting to the decision on the grounds that the academic year is on the verge of completion and the Covid-19 pandemic has not ended.

The memorandum said, “The Covid-19 pandemic has not ended yet; the fact that Vadodara city continues to have a night curfew is proof that the threat of Covid-19 persists. Many parents are not willing to send their children to school yet as the nature of the pandemic is not certain. Moreover, with the academic session nearly ending in a gap of two months, mandatory physical classes mean forcing parents to spend additional money during pandemic times.”

Advocate Kishore Pillai of VPA said, “Our main concern is the safety of students, especially those under 15 years of age, in schools. How does the government expect them to follow social distancing and wear masks all day? The health risk that children will be exposed to by travelling to and fro, and interacting with so many people in the school is not to be ignored… The irony is that we were a group of 60 parents visiting the collector today but only 10 were allowed inside because of Covid-19 protocol. Students in most classes in schools are more than 60 in number.”

VPA argued that most parents of students attending schools will have to purchase uniforms and other school supplies essential for offline classes, with just two months to go for the academic session to end. Pillai said,

“We have requested the government through the collector to continue with the existing arrangement… The CBSE schools have only about 10 days of sessions remaining, while state board schools have a few weeks. It is unfair to expect parents to prepare to send children to school and follow all rules pertaining to uniforms for such a short time.”

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram