The school closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic left as many as 1.6 bn students worldwide uncertain about their education last year. This is as per statistics from the UNESCO. But with the new academic session just around the corner in the country, the education ministry confirmed that the 2021 academic session will begin from 1st February as scheduled. Classes PP to III will join from 15th February while classes IV to VIII will join from 3rd February.
According to the education ministry, classes IX, X and XII will open from 1st April. Whereas class XI students will join on 15th April. And the exams for classes IX to XII will happen as scheduled.
But a few schools with students from classes PP to X and PP to XII will have to work a way out so that they do not disrupt the exams for classes IX to XII.
“Students from PP to VIII will have to report to the school and this is going to again overcrowd the school and disrupt the exams. As per the convenience, they can work out on the date so that PP to VIII students will not have to report to the schools before the home and board exams finish. This is something of recent development,” said Kinley Gyeltshen, Chief of School Planning and Coordination Division.
Meanwhile, students of Thinleygang Primary School, Shengana Lower Secondary School and Kuruthang Middle Secondary School in Punakha, and Wangdue Primary School in Wangdue Phodrang and Dorokha Lower Secondary School in Samtse will report on 1st April and teachers on 22nd March.
These schools are presently accommodating the relocated students from Phuentshogling.
With just over a week for schools to re-open, the ministry is working out strategies to ensure parents and students do not overcrowd shops for school shopping.
“And with regards to the purchase of the stationeries, we don’t want parents and students to all rush to the market to buy stationeries. We are thinking to come out with some ways to discuss with the suppliers and the districts and the thromde management so that those suppliers can either go and reach to the districts, thromdes or to the schools to distribute so that everyone will get the supplies but without having to go to the market to buy on their own,” said Chief of School Planning and Coordination Division.
Regarding the school uniform, the ministry in discussion with the respective districts and thromdes will explore if the suppliers can see a way to reach the uniforms to the schools.
And the other plan is to see if schools can relax on making the school uniform compulsory until the pandemic situation improves.
As students gear up to go to schools after a long interruption, the ministry will ensure that all schools resume and re-open by adopting strict safety protocols.
He added that “although the vaccine is here in the country, we know that it cannot be vaccinated for those children below 18 years. Based on the safety protocols developed by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, we have reminded the schools to be extra cautious to strictly implement the COVID safety protocols. We have also asked all the districts and the thromdes to strictly monitor so that every school is on toes and strictly implement the safety protocols. We don’t want to put any children under risk and make sure they are safe.”
And should another lockdown happen in the future, the ministry is working on improving the online learning system to be more interactive.
According to the WHO’s weekly epidemiological update, schools have not been identified as super-spreading settings except in a few examples where mitigation measures were not well enforced.
An outbreak occurred at a high school in Israel in May last year where teenagers sat in air-conditioned rooms with over 30 classmates without wearing masks. This led to 153 students and 25 staff infected.
Sonam Pem
