Amid the fresh outbreak of Covid, a large number of students from the city are traveling to these schools, which are located 5 to 10 km away from the city. A section of stakeholders, including parents and employees, have demanded closure of these schools on the lines of the order for closure of schools in Aurangabad city.
“Since Aurangabad has witnessed fresh Covid outbreak in the last few days, we are apprehensive about sending our children to school. Even if the school is located on the outskirts, the students enrolled there are mostly from the city,” said a parent on condition of anonymity.
A teacher working in one of the schools concerned said that it is risky to run the school in areas where the students of the city are studying. “The safety of students and staff and their families is a matter of concern,” he said on condition of anonymity.
These schools are mostly CBSE or ICSE affiliated institutions.
Prashant Kumar, principal of Jain International School, Maliwada, said that these schools are following the official orders of the education department by allowing only classroom teaching. “Like other schools, our school was also closed during most of the period of the pandemic. Since there is no official order regarding closure of schools other than the municipal limits, we are conducting offline classes by taking all possible safety measures,” he said.
When contacted, Aurangabad Zilla Parishad CEO Nilesh Gatane, an official call on the functioning of schools will be taken based on the increase in the number of Covid cases in the near future.
“The benchmark survey conducted by the authorities to assess the learning ability of students in rural areas of Aurangabad has revealed largely below-expected performance by students. This fact should also be kept in mind while calling for closure of schools,” he said.
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