69 per cent parents want schools to reopen in next academic year: Survey

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Even as the state government plans to reopen schools soon, a survey conducted by LocalCircles - a community social media platform - across more than 200 districts of the country, has revealed that 69 per cent of parents want schools to start from the next academic session in April. Compared to a similar survey that was done in September last year, the percentage of parents wanting schools to reopen from April has doubled.

LocalCircles has been conducting such surveys over the past couple of months to understand public sentiment for effective policy decisions. To a question asked in the survey - 'Given the current declining COVID-19 daily caseload, what is your position with regard to re-opening of schools in India? - about 69 per cent of parents have said that schools should start from April or after that. As per the results of a similar survey published by LocalCircles on September 30, 2020, 34 per cent of parents had said that the government should consider reopening schools from April.

Speaking to mid-day, Founder of LocalCircles Sachin Taparia said, "Findings of the latest survey indicate that the percentage of parents who want schools to reopen only in the next session has doubled in the last three months. In the aftermath of the significantly declining COVID-19 cases in India and the possibility of a vaccine being available within the next few weeks, LocalCircles conducted another survey to understand if parents are still hesitant to send their kids to school."

Another finding of the survey focuses on whether parents want their wards to take the vaccine. While only 26 per cent of parents want their children to take the vaccine, about 56 per cent of respondents said they would wait and take a decision based on available data and findings. However, 12 per cent of parents said that they would not want their kids to take the vaccine.

The survey received more than 19,000 responses from parents across 224 districts of the country. LocalCircles will soon share the findings of the survey with the central and state government so that the parents' feedback can be considered before deciding on reopening schools.

26%
Parents who want kids to take the vaccine