Students of Classes IX to XII are divided over attending school from Monday. While some are looking at it as an opportunity to start socialising with their friends again after a gap of over a year, others are worried about the risks involved with the COVID situation yet to settle down.
Priya PS of the Bangalore Student Community felt that it was not a good idea to reopen schools at a time when the third wave is looming. "Attending offline classes at this time is risky, considering that the students are not vaccinated. Many of them are paranoid," she said.
Nandan SB, a Class XII student at an international school, said that many parents are not comfortable with sending their children to schools yet. His school has sent a form to parents on reopening of schools. "I personally like schools reopening as online classes are not as effective as offline," he said.
Another student said that her school has informed them that they will continue with online classes for the next month at least, and has not given any instructions on starting offline classes. "I think it's better for students because we are all below 18 years of age, and have not been vaccinated. Now with the emergence of the new Delta variant, it is safer for students to continue with online classes," she said.
Students are divided between those willing to attend physical classes and those who aren't. "It's a mix of both. For safety reasons, they don't want to, but since we've all been at home for over a year now we want to go back," said Dhwani Mohanty of the Bangalore Student Community.
