As schools reopen, students welcomed back on campuses in Chennai – The Hindu

Chennai News

A slew of safety norms were put in place, as campuses strictly enforced the wearing of masks, temperature checks and ensuring physical distancing norms

Students of classes 9 to 12 came back to school campuses on Wednesday, with the Tamil Nadu government having announced that schools can reopen for senior classes. Schools had remained shut for months, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, and only online classes were being held.

A slew of safety norms were put in place, as campuses strictly enforced the wearing of masks, temperature checks and ensuring physical distancing norms.

Schools in Chennai saw students coming in from 8 a.m. As it was the first day, teachers were stationed both outside and inside, near the gates of schools, guiding both students and parents on the safety norms to be followed.

At the Government Hobart Higher Secondary School, teachers welcomed students with new notebooks and chocolate. As they entered the campus, students had their temperature checked and recorded by teachers, who were also reminding them to use hand sanitisers and wear masks at all times.

“We have split a few sections into two batches and have accommodated only 20 students per classroom. All our teaching and non-teaching staff have been vaccinated,” said S. Kanmani, headmistress.

Many students were happy to be back on campus after a long break. B. Gayathri, a class 10 student of the Chennai High School in Kottur said that she was looking forward to attending physical classes and meeting her classmates.

Bharathi N, a class IX student was quite happy as she joined a new school in Besant Nagar to meet her new friends. “I didn’t have a chance to interact with my classmates owing to online classes. I’m looking forward to this, also because it was quite tough to understand Maths lessons,” she says.

With the government having said that schools can continue alternative modes of learning, several city schools have drawn up a schedule for online classes to be held parallelly as well. “We have some students whose parents shifted out of Chennai during the pandemic since they lost jobs. They were attending online classes and will continue to do so until they can shift back here,” said Maheshwari Kalpana, headmistress, Chennai High School, Kottur.

Even though there was some anxiety, most students and parents seemed keen on getting back to physical classes after a long break. Murugan S, a parent, said his children had a difficult time because three of them had to share a single smartphone for classes. “I’m not sure how this is going to work; I’ll wait for feedback after the first day. For now, I’m glad they are back to physical classroom learning after several months.”

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/as-schools-reopen-students-welcomed-back-on-campuses-in-chennai/article36219086.ece