Special schools reopen for good, but 'mask mandate' poses a dilemma

After almost a 700-day hiatus, special needs schools in Maharashtra have finally been allowed to resume physical classes from March 1 onwards.

The past two years have been a long and uphill journey for these schools and their students. Teachers and therapists not only had to create a study module that could be taught by parents at home but also had to introduce the students and their parents—most of whom come from economically weaker backgrounds—to modern technology that would allow them access to digital classrooms. Moving to online classes also reduced the personal interaction and rapport that most teachers shared with their students – an essential requirement for dealing with children with disabilities.

As these schools gear up to open their doors to students after nearly two years, there is still a prickling concern in everyone’s mind: Will these special needs children be able to follow the SOPs laid down by the state government including compulsory wearing of masks inside the school premises? According to the heads of these special needs schools, some children, especially the younger ones diagnosed with down syndrome and autism, face “sensory discomfort” while breathing through the mask for prolonged periods of time.

The Maharashtra government’s February 16 order states that special needs schools can resume from March 1 onwards “in areas where incidents of COVID are scarce.” According to the notification, these schools too, much like regular schools, will need to ensure that all COVID related protocols are followed.

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Even though regular schools in the state were allowed to reopen last month, schools for children with disabilities had not received the signal to do so—up until the February 16 notification—which itself came on the back of a demand made jointly by several NGOs and organisations in the state, requesting concerned authorities to allow them to start offline operations.

Speaking with The Federal, Archana Chandra, CEO of Jai Vakeel Foundation, an organisation that works with intellectually disabled children, said: “IDD (intellectual development disabilities) is an IQ-based condition. If a normal person’s IQ is anywhere between 90 and 100, then all my kids have an IQ of 70 and below which means that their brains and ability to comprehend and communicate are affected. Because their brain is affected, typically something else is also affected. Children with IDD normally have associative disabilities which could be in the form of cerebral palsy, behavioural issues etc.”

In Mumbai, the Jai Vakeel Foundation caters to students between the ages of three and 50 years. There are roughly 350 students in the three to 18-year age bracket.

“Attendance in the classroom had been fluctuating ever since we moved online…it had dropped slightly over the last two years,” said Chandra. “Some of our students and their parents who had to go back to their hometowns didn’t have connectivity in their villages. Initially, a lot of the students couldn’t attend online classes since they didn’t have gadgets. We provided them with iPads and smartphones but they were unable to use the technology at first. However, we are now seeing a (marginal) dip in the classrooms once again due to various reasons. Some of the children’s parents have gone back to work and there is no one left at home to work with the child. In other cases, the child simply refuses to sit in front of a screen and listen to his or her teacher,” he added.

An integral component of Jai Vakeel’s course structure includes periodic healthcare assessment of their students. The assessment was put on hold since the school had to stop physical classes in March 2020 due to the worsening COVID situation in the country. However, between June and September 2021, the school started calling back children for their assessments.

“We managed to redo the assessment of all of our students during this time—therefore we know where the gaps broadly lie,” said Chandra.

“When we start from March 1 onwards, a lot of the focus will be on physical and behavioural therapy. Academic goals may get pushed back a little…and therapy goals are going to come up front. I also think that the therapeutic intervention might be a little higher. A lot of our kids have been showing behaviour issues. Communication is the biggest challenge, coming from parents; they say that their child is refusing to cooperate, not listening to them, and also putting on weight sitting idle at home,” Chandra added.

But the biggest concern remains as to whether the children with special needs will be able to wear their masks for the entire duration of school hours, including the time it takes for them to commute to and fro. “It is very hard [to make students keep their masks on],” said Chandra. “For the younger ones (who have not been vaccinated), we have created spaces where there is going to be more distance in the classroom.”

“We are going to do our best to ensure that they keep their masks on during school hours. It is hard for them because they do not understand its (mask’s) importance. It is also a sensory challenge for them. For autistic children to keep their masks on is a sensory challenge because something is perpetually grazing your face. It is going to be hard, yes…honestly, we have to bring the students in and push the teachers for compliance as much as possible. We will also need to give the students lighter disposable masks,” Chandra said.

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Sister Sheeba Anthony, principal at the Dilkhush Special School located in Mumbai’s Juhu neighbourhood, told The Federal: “The transition to online teaching was difficult for both — the teachers as well as the students and their parents. We had to give them a session on how to use the mobile phone, how to create a Gmail account and how to go about attending a Google classroom. It took us a little bit of time to run them through these things.”

According to Sister Anthony, not all the children were able to sit in front of the screen for long periods of time. “For those above 12 years, it was easy but some of them below that age faced a lot of difficulty in sitting still and attending online classes,” she said.

Anthony said that resuming physical class makes a “hell of a difference” since teachers get to “show” their students what they are talking about. “We have trained teachers and a good, physical setup here,” she said, pointing out that during the last two years when the school had remained shut, their bond with the students had taken a slight hit. “We had a great rapport with the children earlier. However, the affection levels have changed now and we need to get back to the level of communication and personal familiarity that we were once at,” she said.

“Even without COVID, our children have breathing issues—especially those with down syndrome,” she said. “Making them wear their masks and keeping it on will be tough. At some point, we will have to allow the children to remove their masks for some time because otherwise, they won’t be able to breathe properly. This is going to be the biggest challenge for us. Our classes go on from 930 AM to 3 PM, so for children to keep their masks on for such a long period of time will be difficult,” Anthony said.

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“I can say that for those children below 10 years of age, it becomes a little difficult for them to understand why they need to have their masks on in the first place. It is only when they start coming to school that we will be able to see how things pan out. We need to have practical sessions. But for those who have breathing difficulties…we need to support them. That is why we will be seeking a consent letter from parents if needed, stating that they are ok with their children removing their masks in case they face difficulty in breathing,” Anthony said.