The aftermath of hoax bomb emails sent to nearly 200 schools in Delhi-NCR saw a slight dip in attendance across educational institutions in the city. Principals took the opportunity to review and enhance evacuation protocols for potential emergencies in the future. The hoax threats, received via email on Wednesday morning, prompted widespread panic among parents and students, resulting in class suspensions and requests for parents to collect their children from school premises.
Despite many schools returning to normal operations on Thursday, attendance has noticeably decreased, even in schools that did not receive the threat, according to several principals who spoke with PTI.
Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu School, said she revisited the school's evacuation plan on each floor and also wrote to disaster management authorities to conduct mock drills and awareness activities for them. She said that there was "slightly more absenteeism" than usual on Thursday.
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Sudha Acharya, principal of ITL Public School in Dwarka, said parents were still scarred and anxious about the safety of their children in schools. Our attendance today has dropped to 85 per cent from an average of about 95 to 97 per cent daily. Certainly parents are still scarred and anxious about the safety of their children.
"There has been a 10-15 per cent drop in attendance due to the hoax threat compared to the usual strength every day. Parents should understand panicking would not help anyone. We need mutual cooperation to walk out of this situation," Anita Khosla, principal, G D Goenka Public School, Dwarka said.