So many surveys, but nobody spoke to us: Teachers

Days after a survey conducted by the State Council for Educational Research and Training SCERT revealed that over 81 per cent of parents are willing to send their wards to school teachers and school authorities have said that they too should be included in such surveys They say safe reopening of schools would ultimately be their responsibility The bigger question remains whether schools are ready to reopenWhile the survey has received the highest number of responses compared to others that have been conducted so far school administrations and teachers are of the opinion that their voices and concerns are missingSchools will need to make special arrangements for sanitisers thermometers and oxymeters before opening up File picPandurang Kengar secretary of the Mumbai School Principalsrsquo Association said ldquoThe survey should have included all stakeholders which include school managements and teachers too After all safe reopening of schools is ultimately going to be their responsibility Schools require funds to make special arrangements starting from handsanitisers to thermometers and oximeters among all Last year when schools were reopened in some parts of the state the governmentrsquos finance department was going to help in acquiring all the required equipment and to make other arrangements to successfully implement standard operating procedures regarding Covid19 safety in schools but nothing of that sort has actually happened as of nowrdquoAlso read Maharashtra Teachers of civic schools take classes to homes of students in AurangabadlsquoJust surveys wonrsquot helprsquoTalking about how surveys and decisions on paper were not really going to help in this matter Shivnath Darade from Maharashtra Rajya Shikshak Parishad said ldquoTeachers will have to attend school as it is their job but what about their vaccinations We have been pressing for it for so long In urban areas teachers come from far away places and they donrsquot have any convenient travel facility yet All possible aspects should be discussed before taking the decision of reopening schools as safety should be the highest priorityrdquoWhile the survey has found that most parents want to send their wards to school many are still not very sure of it Rajiv Shah a parent from Ghatkopar said ldquoI think parents will be the happiest if regular school starts as it is getting difficult to keep the children engaged at home But are we completely sure that it is safe Also because now we know about the impending third waverdquo However another parent Pushpa Gupta who works as a domestic help said ldquoEverything is open now except trains Then why not schools Our children will lag behind if they lose another academic year Like other businesses schools can reopen with a set of regulationsrdquoJaywant Kulkarni a teacher from Gandhi Balmandir School in Kurla said ldquoThe academic loss these children are facing is for real But just a decision on paper wonrsquot help in reopening schools Both schools and the government need to work hand in hand in terms of taking responsibility for a safe environmentrdquoSchools seek clarityWhile parents and teachers are divided on their opinion school administrations are taking a step back and demanding more clarityAashirwad Lokhande principal of Sailee International School and Junior college said ldquoWe also feel that online schooling is not a very feasible option but then does that mean we put the health of so many children in jeopardy Once the child enters school it is completely our responsibility but who will take responsibility if anything happens on the way to school and back home While this is the basic concern it is also important to note whether all schools are equipped to adhere to the SOPs Economically sound schools may be able to provide all the facilities but can nonaided private schools do the same There are many questions we need to find answers to before reopening schoolsrdquoThe SCERT had launched the online survey last week to know about parentsrsquo opinions The survey received almost 7 lakh responses out of which more than 35 lakh were from urban areas of Maharashtra This was followed by 24 lakh responses from rural areas and 86000 from semiurban areas It further received a total of 110193 responses from parents in Mumbai 39221 from Thane and 23339 from PalgharOut of the total 690820 responses received 560818 parents have said that they are eager to send their wards to school The highest number of responses 286990 was from parents whose wards are in Stds IX and X This is closely followed by 215590 responses from parents whose children are in Stds VI to VIII The lowest number of responses 19273 was from parents whose kids study in nursery690820No of responses the survey has received