City schools to address mental health of students Many of them are seeing deaths and diseases at home or in close family, which is taking a toll on their well-being
Several schools in the city have decided to address the mental health of students, especially those in junior classes, as they are forced to stay indoors for a second year in a row.
Many of these students are also seeing deaths and diseases at home or in close family, which is taking a toll on their well-being.
Schools are structuring their timetable to include separate time slots for teachers to interact informally with the students or giving them a “break” where the students interact among themselves with no adult interference.
Teachers test Covid positive, Calcutta schools struggle Substitute tutors are being assigned or other mentors are sharing the correction load for those who are unwell
Several schools are struggling to hold classes and having to make adjustments after a number of teachers have been infected with the coronavirus, principals said.
At a few schools, some classes have been suspended or temporarily cancelled. The classes will be rescheduled once the teachers recover. Several schools are assigning substitute teachers and combining sections. At some, teachers are sharing the correction load for those who are unwell.
In most cases, teachers themselves are infected, while some are busy taking care of Covid patients at home.
Schools are organising training sessions for security guards and those involved in housekeeping, telling them to be “strict with the students” about rules and to follow the protocols themselves as a precaution against Covid-19.
The staff members are being told to regularly clean door knobs and taps after every use, keep an eye on whether everyone is wearing a mask properly and not allow parents on the campus when students arrive or leave.
The training started in most places after the government had last week announced that schools could reopen for students of Classes IX to XII from February 12.
“Many of the security personnel have been here for some time and they tend to be soft with children. But from now they will have to be very strict and merciless in following the protocols. For example they cannot allow any child on the campus without a mask,”
Students will take time to get back to the pre-Covid “normal” once in-person classes resume and schools need to be more relaxed on discipline and rules in the initial months, psychologists and teachers said.
It will be a challenge for teachers to make students shift from the “home mode to the school mode,” said a counsellor, pointing out that they could initially be “restless” at the school desk.
The pandemic and the lockdown allowed young learners to take certain leeway such as sitting on a couch to attend online classes, using a footstool, waking up 10 minutes before the day’s first class and taking a break between classes.