UP: Schools for primary classes reopen with little attendance

NEW DELHI: Schools for primary classes reopened with little attendance in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, for the first time since March 20 last year when the government imposed a lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus. Classes from 9 to 12 and 6 to 8 had started from August 16 and 24, respectively.

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"Best wishes for the students. The schools are reopening from today. All teachers are requested to take care of students and follow the Covid protocol," Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said in a tweet in Hindi. Though students of primary classes returned to schools, the attendance was very less.

"Only those students were allowed to come whose parents filled a consent form. In some classes of over 50 students, only one or two parents have given consent. Online classes are continuing as per the schedule as parents are apprehensive for the safety of their children due to Covid," a teacher of St Francis College here said.

The classes started in two shifts of two hours--from 8 am and 11.30 am. To welcome students, some schools decorated entry gates with balloons and they were given entry after sanitising their hands. "It's good that school is reopening. I will meet my friends after a long gap," Harsh, a Class 3 student of a private school said.

The student’s mother, Megha, however, appeared apprehensive and said she will immediately stop sending her son to the school if she sees cases of Covid rising again. La Martiniere Girls' College has not reopened, its principal Aashrita Dass said. A Moras, Principal of St Francis' College in Lucknow, when asked as to whether the school has reopened, said, "No.

We will observe for a few more days." Donald De Souza, chancellor and spokesperson of the Catholic Diocese of Lucknow said that Cathedral Senior Secondary School here has reopened.

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