A few central council schools, which still rely on online courses to teach students, have decided to suspend distance learning once their students are vaccinated. The schools are planning a vaccination campaign the first week of January for pupils in classes X, XI and XII.

While most schools have gradually started offline classes since August 23, many schools did not make the switch because they feared their schools would become COVID-19 clusters as children were not vaccinated.

Mansoor Ali Khan, a board member of the Delhi Public Group of Schools, said they would try to complete the two doses of immunization for students over 15 by February.

“All these days we were reluctant to stop our online classes despite the offline classes and we were worried about the health of our students. But once the students are vaccinated, we will stop online classes and channel all of our educational resources to offline classes, ”he said. He added that offline courses would be more effective in bridging the learning gap between students.

D. Shashi Kumar, General Secretary, Associate Directorates of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said that once students are vaccinated, parents should ensure that they give consent to students attending classes. “In a few schools, parents are still reluctant and do not want to send their children to offline classes with the increase in the number of Omicron cases. But once students are vaccinated, parents need to cooperate and make sure their children are taking lessons offline, ”he said.

An official from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education said schools are currently supposed to offer offline and online lessons. “However, once the students are vaccinated, we will consider the need to organize both types of lessons,” added the official.

Parents also feel that they would be reassured to send their children to school once they have been bitten. Surekha R., parent of a Grade 10 student, said: “Some parents are not convinced that they vaccinate their children. But we will be urging management to ensure they start offline courses and that bridging courses are provided so that students get their lost skills back, ”she said.