SHILLONG, Sep 1: A majority of the schools in the city are planning to reopen next week.
A few that reopened on Wednesday included St. Anthony’s Higher Secondary School, Shillong Public School, Jail Road Boys’ Higher Secondary School and Gorkha Pathshala Higher Secondary School. The schedule of classes in these schools was 9 am to noon.
Among the institutions expected to reopen next week are St. Margaret’s Higher Secondary School, Synod Higher Secondary School and Meghalaya Police Public School.
The authorities of these institutions have been engaging with the parents for consent to send their wards to school.
Despite the government’s decision to reopen the schools from September 1, the school authorities will require to get permission from the Deputy Commissioner to start classes.
The Secretary of Shillong Archdiocesan Education Society, Fr. Richard Majaw said they have asked the managing committees of all the schools falling under the Shillong Archdiocese to take steps for reopening of schools according to the government’s direction.
“We have also directed the managing committees to ensure that the students strictly follow all the SOPs,” he said.
Fr. Majaw said that the students for the past year and a half have not been able to attend school in view of the Covid-19 situation.
“We feel there is a need to resume the offline classes for the benefit of the students. At the same time, we are afraid since the students are very young,” he said.
Noting the clause that students can go to school if the parents give their consent, Fr. Majaw said: “I have also seen that the government will review the decision on the reopening of the schools from time to time.”
The Principal of St. Margaret’s H.S. School, Sr. Mary Saio said they will start reopening with the Science stream for Class XI and Class XII from September 8 and the Arts stream for Class XI and Class XII from September 14. The offline classes for classes IX and X will be from October onwards.
She said all the teachers have taken their first dose of the vaccine while 50% of the teachers have taken both the doses. “We are better prepared now compared to last year. We have already held a sensitisation session with all the teachers to ensure that the SOPs are strictly followed as far as possible,” Sr. Saio said.
According to her, the government took the decision to reopen the schools as there are many schools that have not been able to conduct online classes.
“We feel that this decision was taken in the best interest of the students since online classes cannot replace offline classes. The government will have to think for the overall wellbeing of the children,” she said.
Sr. Saio also said the final decision on sending their wards to school lies with the parents.
“We will have to revert to online classes if we see there are very few students coming to school for the offline classes,” she said.
She also said they have decided to wait for a week before reopening the school to see how the situation unfolds.
The Principal of Synod Higher Secondary School, Sandra Tongper said they will start reopening the school from September 13 for classes 9 to 12.
She said they are planning to conduct the classes for a maximum of three hours per day on a rotation basis.
“We will need to first focus on the topics the students are finding difficult to cope with as and when the school reopens. The students can have better interaction with the teachers in the offline classes,” Tongper said.
Her school would be conducting online classes along with offline.
Tongper also said they have made all necessary arrangement to ensure that the SOPs such as wearing masks and physical distancing are strictly followed by the students.
St. Anthony’s Higher Secondary School supervisor, Manjuri Bull said interacting with the students after a long gap was a great feeling.
She said students find it easier to clear doubts in classrooms.
Bull said most of the school’s teachers have been vaccinated and the school has a spacious campus to ensure that the SOPs are strictly followed.
A student of St. Anthony’s H.S. School said online classes will never be able to replace classroom teaching. “I am happy to be able to attend my classes regularly and meet my friends,” he said.
145 tourists visit state on Day One
With the state finally opening its doors to fully vaccinated tourists, a total of 145 visitors, mostly from Assam, came to the state.
An official from the Tourism department said that 145 tourists checked in at the Umling entry point on Wednesday.
For now, the government is allowing only fully vaccinated tourists to check into the state while those who are not vaccinated or have taken a single dose have to produce a negative RT-PCR report at the entry point.
