Omicron halts students' return to schools and colleges; pauses hope of faster normalcy in education sector

The surge in Omicron cases has halted the students' gradual return to schools and colleges and with it, the hope of a return to normalcy early in 2022.

And there is a mixed reaction with a section calling for utmost caution on the health front, and another highlighting the learning loss and how it will further hamper the education sector.

Several states including Punjab, Delhi, Maharashtra, Telengana, West Bengal, Odisha and Goa have either shut down educational institutions or have announced to do so. The shutdowns have been announced either fully or in parts of these states.

The Punjab government on Tuesday decided to close schools and colleges and imposition of night curfew to restrict the spread of COVID cases. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has formally announced holidays for all the educational institutions from January 8 to 16.

There has been news about how educational institutions in states like Punjab and West Bengal have reported COVID-19 cases among students and staff. For example, IIT Kharagpur has reported around 60 cases of COVID-19 in the past few days among both students and staff.

There is a mixed reaction from different sections on the closure of educational institutions with a section demanding that institutions should not be closed when markets and many other public places are functioning. They argue that with schools closed for over 18 months, the learning loss is massive and authorities both in the Centre and at the states must be cautious about such measures, looking at the impact it is going to have on students and their learnings.

“Instead of closing down institutions, authorities should allow staggered functioning of schools and limit the number of students who can attend. If a class has 40 students, at least 20 should be allowed to come in a day and among these schools perhaps can arrange two sessions of 10 each to maintain health protocols,” said S Madhusudan, a school owner in Hyderabad, and general secretary of Telangana Recognised School Management Association.

"The closure of schools and other educational institutions is very unfortunate. So far, experts have told that Omicron is not fatal and youngsters are not susceptible to COVID-19," he added.

Those who are in favour of keeping the schools open argue that while on one hand there is screen fatigue, on other hand rural India does not have adequate digital infrastructure to keep pace with online learning. They say that vaccination along with adherence to appropriate COVID-19 protocols should allow institutions to stay open.

“There is a learning loss and return to normalcy is getting halted due to the surge of COVID-19 cases. There is a growing belief that in two to three months, as the Omicron cases subside faster, the uncertainty around schooling will end,” said Jai Decosta, the Managing Director of K12 Techno Services and chief executive of Orchid International chain of schools.

“We have received feedback from parents. As a precaution, we have gone online for the time being. Children want to come to schools, and as vaccination progresses, normalcy in the school sector will accelerate. Students staying with grandparents have a concern. They say even if the Omicron variant is not fatal, it has the potential to impact senior citizens with co-morbidity. The bottom line is it’s a mixed bag, and the hope is we shall come out of the pandemic uncertainties soon,” added Decosta, who runs a chain of over 60 schools in several states including Maharashtra.

There is a section that believes that school closures and non-mandatory schooling are the way to go as the third wave of COVID-19 has started in the country.

“There are concerns among parents about sending children to school after the Omicron virus started spreading in the last couple of weeks. The public pulse is that given the overall condition of schools across the country, and fear among parents it is better to shut the schools for a few weeks and continue online,” said Sachin Taparia, managing director of Localcircles, a community media platform that conducts surveys on contemporary topics including issues impacting the education sector.

“Since Omicron threat is likely to subside sooner things may normalise by March or April. We had seen a good percentage of parents sending their kids to schools between August end and November 2021, but things seem to have changed in the past couple of weeks,” said Taparia who is also a parent to two school-going kids.

A Delhi University professor said a decision to completely go offline at colleges or universities should be well discussed before reaching a conclusion. A hurried decision may lead to the virus spreading faster in the present scenario. India reported 37,379 new cases in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said in a bulletin on January 4.

“Yes, classroom learning is the best, but exposing teachers to gatherings every day will also lead to virus spreading. In an education environment, it’s tough to maintain protocol due to factors like space constraints, lack of responsibility, and the age of students,” said the professor, requesting anonymity.

India has a large education sector with around 300 million students pursuing studies in over 1.5 million schools and over 50,000 colleges and higher educational institutions.

The World Bank recently highlighted the massive learning loss in low- and middle-income countries. It stressed that the learning loss due to prolonged closure of schools, “will have lasting impacts on future earnings, poverty alleviation, and reducing inequality. According to latest estimates, this generation of students now risks losing $17 trillion in lifetime earnings.”