Decision For Primary Students To Be In Class Rooms Should Be Held Back For A Month Or Two

By D N Singh Opening of schools for 1 to 8 class students in Odisha after the Puja vacations, although remains within ifs and buts, yet the haste does not augur well at this juncture when the trials for the vaccines for children are undergoing. Odisha government’s education ministry is mulling about allowing the physical classes after the vacation is like a calculated risk when the fear still looms over and may be less in number, but cases of Covid are being reported with unfailing regularity. It is about students of class one means like asking a 4 to 5 year kid to walk amid the guidelines or SOPs knowing well that, a child is a child and no guidelines whatsoever can stop him or her from being doing what they are not supposed to do. A normal man in a day somehow touches the nose, eyes or the face at least 250 to 300 times. And it is normal and it happens to even adults according to a study by the John Hopkins centre. Let alone kids. It has been earlier decided to allow schools for students from 8 to 12 and which accounts for 260 million students for limited hours. But when we talk about the primary level kids, say a class 1 student who is hardly 4 year old, in all likelihood, lacks of socio-emotional development and may be nutritional loss due to absence of physical movements but, the risk of the infections cannot be ruled out at this juncture. Would not be wise to hold back the decision for some more time till the final say on the vaccination for kids is finalized by the experts. “For safer reasons, the physical classes can be held back by a month at least till we arrive at a decision on vaccinations for the kids,” said Dr Neeraj Mishra. Agreed that the closure of schools has led to poor mental health of the children and they suffer from socio-emotional values, but the risk of pushing the kid into the no holds barred class climate, regardless whatever precautions taken, a child is bound by the instincts. If a teacher in a classroom peers on the movements of each child in a classroom, then he or she devotes more than an hour on such scrutiny than involvement in studies. About the Author: DN Singh is a Bhubaneswar-based senior journalist. DISCLAIMER This is the personal opinion of the author. The views expressed in this write up have nothing to do with the www.prameyanews.com