Students excited to be back in school after more than a year-and-a-half of a pandemic-induced break and teachers who were equally glad celebrated Pravesanotsavam together in schools in the district on reopening day on Monday.
General Education Department officials had given directions to schools not to go overboard with the Pravesanotsavam fete. Schools, though, did decorate campuses with balloons and festoons, paper caps, flowers, painted classrooms, and colourful furniture.
Nearly 46,000 students and 4,327 teachers reached 997 high schools in the district. Thermal scanners were used to scan students’ body temperatures and hands sanitised at the school entrance. Display boards with school layouts, batch configurations, attendance days, break times, mid-day meal times, and bus boarding scheduled, were made ready to make student management easier.
Health care providers also visited schools. Masks and sanitisers were also provided to schools.
There will be no teaching of lessons in the first two weeks of the month. Instead, teachers will try and connect with students whom they have not met face-to-face and engage them in activities and projects to ascertain their grasp of digital or online classes. Students will also be familiarised with COVID-19 protocols.
Except for a couple of primary unaided schools, all institutions in the district reopened.
One school did not reopen in Amboori, as it had just been taken over as a relief camp. In Thope, a school that functioned as a relief camp could not be vacated.
At Government Lower Primary School, Cotton Hill, where the State-level Pravesanotsavam was held, Ministers V. Sivankutty, Antony Raju, and G.R. Anil welcomed students for the ‘Thirike Schoolelikku’ celebrations and presented balloons, sweets, masks, and study kits to them.
The inaugural function was followed by a magic show and a song. School headmaster K. Buhari addressed parents again on the guidelines to be observed in the coming days.
Class I teacher Suja V. said classroom activities would be conducted as per a six-day module prepared by the Samagra Shiksha, Kerala. Teachers too had been provided online training.
The school has nearly 1,200 students. As nearly 50% of the parents have expressed willingness to send their children.
Published - November 02, 2021 01:05 am IST
