Schools and students’ preparedness on reopening and adaptation during and after the pandemic: A cross-sectional review of schools of a city in Eastern India

Abstract

BackgroundCOVID-19pandemic led to closure of schools as a precautionary measure and later the reopening of the schools was a gruesome task for the stake-holders.This needed earnest imposition of measures of prevention to manage disease. AimsThis study aims at observing the preparations and other health safety measures being taken by different secondary level high schools of Bhubaneswar, stratified for its ownership categories (government and private); it would also try and measure the student's perception of the newer methods of imparting education-their advantages and disadvantages besides their personal safety. MethodsA cross-sectional observational study was planned in Bhubaneswar for 900 students; surveyed after Multistage random sampling technique approaches. ResultThe overall basic knowledge about COVID-19 was appropriate, irrespective of the category of the schools.The practice of COVID-appropriate behaviour was better in private school students; this can be related to the finding that Government school (around 28%) students were more affected by COVID-19 than private school students (around 22%). The students of both strata significantly agreed that Lockdown had hampered their education (68.7% in Government and 53.9% in Private schools) and they were under stress due to the pandemic. ConclusionThe pandemic definitely has breathed an air of fresh life into the age-old institution of schools, whose handling and functioning were dealt with unacceptable complacency towards student's health and safety. The alternate mode of teaching has definitely come up as a plausible alternative, but would never replace face-face classes.