The challenge of childcare during the pandemic
The Hindu
Working parents are in a fix as daycare centres and crèches are yet to be allowed to reopen
Sameer Sharma and his wife Anjali, who stay on the IIT-Madras campus, have rejigged their work schedules so that their work hours do not overlap. By doing so, they ensure at least one of them is around their four-and-a-half-year-old son at any given time. A scientist, Anjali has opted for the night shift. Sameer works during the day, sometimes from home, and at other times, out of office. “Ideally, I need to go to the office, but it is flexible. So, whenever I have to, I go to office,” says Sameer, who works for a United States-based start-up.Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.