Delhi government has decided to reopen schools for classes 9 to 12 starting February 7, the decision has been announced after a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) with government officials. Schools will reopen amid strict covid-19 precautions. Only vaccinated staff and teachers will be allowed to attend on-campus classes. DDMA has also allowed offices to function with 100 per cent attendance in Delhi.
For younger kids studying in the nursery to class 8, schools will reopen from February 14 onwards. The DDMA has also given a nod to completely reopen higher education institutes including colleges and universities.
“On the basis of the advice of the experts, in light of the consistently decreasing positivity and numbers of cases, institutions of higher education and coaching institutes to open subject to SoPs and strict adherence to CAB,” said DDMA. It added, “schools to open in a phased manner as per SoPs and adherence to CAB. Classes 9th-12th will open from February 7. Teachers who aren’t vaccinated will not be permitted.” The DDMA also said that the vaccination of 15-18 age group to be enhanced.
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Despite Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia claiming that he would push for reopening in a previous meeting, the decision to reopen schools came this week after the central government has relaxed school reopening norms. The central government on February 3 announced revised guidelines under which schools can reopen for in-person classes and parental consent will not be mandatory to attend school unless the state or UT government mandates it depending on the Covid-19 cases in the region.
In the last DDMA meeting, the Delhi government had recommended the reopening of schools, saying it was necessary to prevent further damage to the social and economic well-being of children as the COVID-19 situation in the capital had improved. Asserting that online education can never replace classroom studies, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had said the government had closed schools when it was not safe for children, but “excessive caution” was harming them.
A delegation of parents led by Chandrakant Lahariya, an epidemiologist and public policy specialist, had earlier met Sisodia and submitted a memorandum signed by over 1,600 parents demanding that schools be reopened. R C Jain, president of the Delhi State Public School’s Management Association, said, “It’s high time DDMA decides to reopen schools. There has been enough scientific evidence pointing that its safe to reopen schools. Even World Bank has said there is no logic behind keeping the schools closed anymore.” The National Progressive Schools’ Conference (NPSC), a body of private schools, had earlier this week raised the issue of learning losses suffered by children in a letter to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.
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