Delhi Schools Must Go Back to Online Classes Say Some Parents, Others Say This Would Be a Setback

Delhi schools had only just resumed offline classes from 1 April onwards after a two year gap for children from all age groups

Delhi schools should move back to online classes say a section of parents as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Delhi. While schools wait for directions from the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on further directions, a section of parents have reportedly stopped sending their children to school due to fear of their wards getting infected. “The attendance in my child’s class has dropped after news of COVID-19 cases rising in Delhi schools broke out. Very few children are attending the class,” said a parent from a prominent school in Dwarka.

Delhi schools had resumed offline classes for students from primary classes to twelfth after a gap of two years on 1 April 2022. This has also led to a huge learning gap for children who have been forced to take online classes to meet the mandated norms of social distancing. However, positive COVID-19 cases on the other hand have been steadily rising in the capital with over 500 cases being reported on 18 April. Nevertheless, the hospitalisation rate so far has been negligible and zero deaths have been reported.

Delhi Schools Must Move to Online Classes, Say Some Parents

Although the Government of Delhi has been requesting parents not to panic as the situation is well under control, a few parents have been worried about media reports stating a spike in positive cases in the capital. “Cases have been rising in the capital. Small children don’t know how to maintain social distancing. Schools must offer online classes as many of us parents are extremely worried,” said a parent from a Delhi school who did not want to be named.

“While students may not suffer much, they are living with old people or adults with co-morbidities who may get infected,” added the parent. In the same vein, another parent added “We believe that we cannot take risks with our children. We don’t know how this virus will behave. Schools must be made online until cases subside or vaccination is available for small children,” said a another parent.

Delhi Schools Must Continue to Function Offline, School Closure Will be Huge Setback

Some parents have also been conveying that closure of schools will be a huge setback for children who are already under immense stress due to online classes from the past two years. “Our children have already lost too much over the past two years due to online education. There is a learning gap that has come in, and offline classes are extremely crucial at this point if we wish for our children to prosper. Holding them inside our homes will do more damage at this point. Children are anyway going out to malls and parks, and are already mingling,” said a parent.

Another parent, who also happens to be a health-worker, said “I had been treating COVID-19 patients from the past two and half years. This time, mostly children are getting infected but symptoms are extremely mild. They have been reporting slight cold and nausea instead of lungs getting infected. Older kids have been reporting headaches. So I feel we must learn to live with the virus as there is no end to it.”

What Experts Say About Fourth Wave

IIT Kanpur Professor Manindra Agrawal has predicted that there could be no, or a very short fourth wave. “I do not believe that the next wave, if at all it comes, will have a long duration,” he said on Twitter while stating that this was due to very high levels of natural immunity in the country (90+%). “A new mutant will need to be highly infectious in order to create a sizable wave, and then it will be very short-lived. Just as it happened for third wave,” he added.

The profesor, who has created the SUTRA mathematical model for pandemics, went on to say “Omicron was highly infectious, bypassed vaccine immunity, but did not bypass natural immunity significantly (our estimate for India is 10-15%). And given high natural immunity in India (around 80% at the time), third wave was sharp but short. Same happened in South Africa and several other countries with high natural immunity. Of course, it is possible that a new mutant significantly bypasses natural immunity. But that would be an entirely new pandemic.”

The SUTRA model, which is an acronym Susceptible, Undetected, Tested (positive), and Removed Approach, claims to have several novel features. “Firstly, whereas previous papers have divided the patient population into Asymptomatic and Infected, SUTRA explicitly accounts for the fact that there would be large numbers of undetected asymptomatic patients. Secondly, the model explicitly takes into account the spatial spread of a pandemic over time, through a parameter called "reach." Thirdly, the model uses numerically stable methods for estimating the values of all the parameters using the daily new infections data series,” says the official website.

That said, the DDMA is holding a meeting today to decide the fate of Delhi schools amidst the rising number of COVID-19 cases. With experts and doctors advising against closure of schools, DDMA is expected to allow Delhi schools hold classes in the hybrid mode.