Stuck in health vs education limbo: Delhi schools on hybrid classes as AQI remains ‘severe’ and worse

From dividing up teachers’ attention between students in class and the ones in school, to accessibility of digital tools, plethora of challenges in hybrid mode

With air quality deteriorating in the Capital, parents and teachers said they are once again forced to walk the tightrope between protecting the health of the children but at the same time ensuring there are no disruptions to their education.

Students ready to go to school near Pandav Nagar on Friday. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

On Saturday, the Delhi government directed all schools to run as classes up to class IX and XI in hybrid mode. But that, teachers said, is easier said than done. From dividing up the teachers’ attention between students in class and the ones in school to accessibility of digital tools, there a plethora of challenges that lie in the path of successful hybrid education.

“We will run online classes as well. We, however, would encourage students to come to school because the government set up challenges to increase online classes. Most children lack digital devices and internet data to attend hours long online classes,” said Awadhesh Kumar Jha, the principal of CM Shri School in Rohini Sector-8.

“We have neighbourhood policy so most of the students don’t travel long distances and many lack proper digital tools, all this makes offline learning more favourable.”

However, outdoor activities, such as assemblies and sports will be fully paused to protect students from pollution, Jha added.

The principals at several other schools, however, said they will run classes both online and offline and the final decision will rest with the parents and children.

“At present, parents may exercise their own discretion in deciding whether to send their ward to school, keeping in mind the prevailing environmental and health conditions,” said Alka Kapur, the principal of Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh. “All prescribed norms and precautionary measures will be meticulously followed on campus.”

But parents said, they too are divided on the issue, with some preferring online teaching for the sake of their childrens’ health and others believing that their kids are best suited to in-class teacher-monitored learning.

“If pollution is really a concern for the government, then they should completely go for online classes instead of hybrid. It will serve two purposes, one it is safer for children to be inside and the second lakhs of vehicles used to drop and pick students, including school buses and vans will not be in use and help in reducing vehicular pollution,” said Maheish Mishra whose daughter studies in class 9 in DPS Dwarka.

Rohit Sejwal, whose two children study at Amity International School, Saket, said that parents are concerned about the delay in completing the syllabus in the online mode, especially since children get less time for revision at the end of the session in January.

“We stay in Saket and the school is literally just 1km away in the same locality. The kids will remain packed inside so as to limit their exposure to pollution, and if the same measures can be adopted in the school then that would be better than online learning,” said Rohit Sejwal, adding, “But the health of the kids is foremost.”

Delhi School Parents Association head Aparajita Gautam said this has become a routine disruption.

“Last year, in the name of hybrid mode some schools made it compulsory for the students to attend online classes twice a week and remaining in offline mode whereas others ran both parallelly. Hence, the government should first clearly define what ‘hybrid’ is,” said Aparajita Gautam. “Every year in the month of November and December classes are disrupted due to rising AQI levels, my concern is when this pattern has become apparent why does the government along with people not take an initiative to plan the academic calendar in a way that learning is not compromised.”