Localised kindergarten schools have taken a bad hit because of the coronavirus pandemic. Since the lockdown was initiated in the whole country in March, all education institutes have been closed down until further notice is given to restart their work to disburse education. As such many small-time kindergartens have faced dire consequences when coronavirus hit the country. This is quite a disconcerting situation as it has adversely affected the lives of many teachers and staff of such schools.
According to a report published in this daily, most of the guardians of the students of these institutions are not paying tuition fees, placing the cause of ongoing closure. As a result, owners of these schools are compelled to shut the institutions while teachers and other staffs are passing inhuman life as they are not getting salary for several months.
This plight cannot be alleviated as the situation
concerning kindergartens is quite different from
primary level and secondary level institutes
This plight cannot be alleviated as the situation concerning kindergartens is quite different from primary level and secondary level institutes, where some means of disbursing education is going on via online class.
According to experts more than one crore students are studying in 60,000 kindergarten schools across the country. Of those, 99 percent schools are run in rented houses. About 10 lakh teaches are engaged in teaching in kindergartens. The sheer massiveness of the numbers is quite numbing. It has been estimated that kinder garten teachers, staff and owners have been hit the hardest.
Based on the circumstances the condition cannot be improved unless the government decides to open the doors to the schools. And, seeing how the situation is deteriorating constantly, with the number of Covid-19 cases again on the rise with the imminent second wave, even experts cannot say when schools might actually reopen. One way to alleviate some pressure can be to provide subsidy to these schools. Even that might not be enough in the long run.