Mumbai Schools Reopen After 18 Months, Students Turnover Remains Low

After more than a year, schools in Mumbai have re-opened following two deadly waves of Covid-19 pandemic. As schools open gates after 18 months, the number of absentees remain higher than students attending physical classes. In a report by a leading daily, in the 78% of aided and unaided schools that have reopened in Mumbai, the student turnout has not crossed 22%. Even in civic schools, strength has dipped by 24% just a day after the schools reopened.

The education department has asked schools to ensure that students who have come back to the schools continue to attend physical classes. For parents who have not still consented to send their wards for physical classes, the department has requested a reconsideration of the decision.

A report by the national daily stated that when schools reopened on Monday, 30,250 students from classes 8 to 10 were present. Whereas, out of the 7.27 lakh higher senior secondary students enrolled in aided and unaided schools, only 1.78 lakh kids attended offline classes.

For students of classes 11and 12, classes continue in online mode as many of them are not eligible to commute via the local trains as being fully vaccinated is a prerequisite to boarding these local trains. The process of vaccination has not yet started for children below 18 years.

The report further mentioned that in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, out of the 63% reopened schools in Thane, only 40% or 11.4 lakh higher secondary students attended class physically. In Palghar, where schools reopened in July, only 15% of the urban students have come back for offline classes.

Across the state of Maharashtra, the situation of urban students remains the same. Not more than 35% of urban students are coming to schools at the moment. In urban areas of the Nashik division, where 99% of schools are now open, only 39% of students are present. In Kolhapur, with all the urban and schools now open, 86% rural and 68% urban students have come back to offline classes. All the schools in Sangli for classes 5-10 are reopened and 85% of students are attending the classes.

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