The murmurs to reopen junior classes in Haryana schools grew louder on Thursday, with an organisation of private school owners in the state stating that they will open schools for all classes from February 7 onwards by themselves if the government didn’t take a call on the situation by then.
Haryana has so far, keeping the Covid pandemic in view, have allowed only offline classes for students of classes 10 to 12. A bunch of private schools and some people in the state’s rural areas have demanded that junior classes be reopened at the earliest.
Haryana Private School Welfare Association president, Ramavtar Sharma, on Thursday said that “if the government did not accept their demand, then the association will open all classes on their own from February 7.”
There are reports that several private schools have already started calling students of all classes to attend in-person classes in schools. In a letter addressed to the Palwal deputy commissioner (DC) on Wednesday, the district education officer (DEO) has urged action against any private schools that are found violating government rules by holding offline classes for junior school. The DEO’s letter addressed to the DC reads, “It is brought to your notice that as per the orders of Haryana government, the schools are to be opened only for 10-12 classes. But a large a number of schools in Palwal are calling students for all classes. So, you are requested to provide police force so that cases can be registered after conducting inspections.”
On the other hand, the state president of the Federation of Private Schools Welfare Association, Kulbhushan Sharma threatened that they will launch a massive agitation if the schools for all classes are not reopened at the earliest: “We will launch a big agitation, in coordination with parents, if the schools are not opened from February 7. The parents have realised that their children will suffer a lot if the schools, especially the ‘budget schools’, are not opened with immediate effect. The learning gap between the children of rich and those from poor families has already widened a lot. The children from poor families may not be able to compete with those that come from well-off families in competitive exams.”
In a few villages in Fatehabad district, the villagers have been holding protests and have seen youth from villages pitch-in and teach kids at schools.
When asked about the clamour for reopening junior classes on Wednesday, education minister Kanwarpal Gurjar had told The Indian Express, “We have already allowed classes for classes 10-12. We will see the response for these classes. We may allow more classes to reopen if there is no risk. In the next step, we will open classes for students in standards 6 to 9. If that goes well, then the junior classes will then be allowed to reopen.”
The minister further said, “The Covid pandemic is declining, but it has not gone away completely. Most of the students of classes 10-12 have been vaccinated. But there is no vaccine for the students of junior classes.”
The president of Private School Welfare Association, Ramavtar Sharma, said that his association has given a memorandum to all 90 MLAs and ten MPs across Haryana which was further forwarded to the education minister and the Chief Minister to demand the reopening of schools. “The parents, teachers, and students have a sense of resentment due to the closure of schools. If the government feels that the Covid wave is continuing then the markets should also be closed. It is absolutely wrong to open everything and just keep the schools shut.”