Mumbai schools to focus on familiarity as children go to class

Students attend an in-person class at Mazgaon’s St. Mary’s School on Wednesday. Pic/Bipin Kokate

It was a very promising Phase II reopening of schools across the city as teachers and staffers welcomed students from the younger standards on Wednesday. Almost all state board schools resumed in-person classes for Stds I to VII, and it was a celebration of sorts with many of the premises decorated and all decked-up. Though most of the schools saw less than 50 per cent attendance, the administrations are confident that the numbers will increase post the Christmas vacation.

Speaking to mid-day, Aparna Kashid, headmistress at D S High School in Sion, said, "The focus of the day was to help students acclimatise to the school environment, as they returned after almost two years. While for the younger ones it was their first day, even the elder ones need to get used to school life again." The school held a grand reopening ceremony on Wednesday.

Teachers welcome students with gifts and flowers at Sadhna Vidyalaya School in Sion, on Wednesday

Trustee President of the school, Rajendra Pradhan shared, "As students of Std VIII and above have been attending physical classes, the premises were already safe for the return of the younger ones. The system includes continuous sanitisation and other safety protocols. Now as all classes have been included, shifts have been formed to ensure social distancing. The primary objective is to ease students into the new normal, while academics will continue through both the online and offline modes." This Sion school saw a huge response in terms of the number of students returning to classrooms.

Annette Henriques, headmistress of Mazgaon's St. Mary's School said, "There were not many students on the first day, but the response will get better over time." In order to follow the SOPs, schools have created their own time-tables and divided students as per different sessions to ensure social distancing. For example, if a class has 40 students, it is divided in two batches of 20 each. In some schools, batches are being called for in-person classes on alternate days and in some, multiple sessions of short durations are held in order to accommodate all. However, teachers are also ensuring that online learning continues for those who are yet to return to schools.

Students attend morning prayers at DS High School in Sion, on Wednesday. Pics/Atul Kamble

"There is absolutely no word to describe the excitement. It was getting tougher to keep children focused online. We are happy that schools are on their way to normalcy. We have to continue both modes of teaching for some time but we hope to go back to in-person classes completely," shared a teacher from a Bandra school.

"I was waiting for in-person classes to start. I missed my friends a lot," shared Sumit Hire, a Std VI student of a BMC school in Dahisar. According to Sumit, online learning had several limitations, as his friends had to share mobile phones and laptops with their siblings as well.

Shivani Sanghvi, Std VII student of G H high School in Borivli, said, "It was really exciting to be back in school after so long. I met my friends and even teachers were very friendly."

28 per cent students back to school

As per information provided by the BMC, only 28 per cent students attended in-person classes on Wednesday. A total of 2,434 schools fall under the BMC's jurisdiction, which includes MPS, aided, unaided and private state board schools. Out of these, 2,246 schools started in-person classes for Stds I to VII on Wednesday.

It's literally Day 1 for Mumbai Public Schools

Students attend a class at Woolen Mill MPS on Wednesday. Pic/Ashish Raje

Ten non-state board schools, also known as Mumbai Public Schools (MPS) - launched by the BMC during the COVID lockdown, have been functioning online till now. For the first time ever, they opened their gates for students on Wednesday. Since these are new schools, they only have primary sections. "This was the first day on campus not only for the children but also for teachers and staff. We have been operating online since the school was launched. Everyone was excited to begin in-person classes. Parents, too, were really happy and supportive," shared Jyoti Vakharia, principal of Woolen Mill MPS. Adding to this, Pratibha Dhole, principal of Azizbaug MPS said, "It was a very different experience for all of us. Teachers are happy to begin in-person classes. Students too had so much to share."