Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia visited schools in West Vinod Nagar for inspection
As Delhi returns to normalcy, the government-run schools in the national capital on Monday resumed physical classes with 50 per cent attendance and strict adherence to Covid-19 guidelines. Delhi's Deputy CM and Education Minister Manish Sisodia visited schools in West Vinod Nagar of East Delhi to seek the opinion of students and teachers.
"Happy that schools have reopened today especially for nursery to 8th classes. We're following all COVID protocols," Sisodia said.
The city government had last week said that schools for nursery to Class 8 will be allowed to reopen in the national capital from November 1 and also asked schools to continue online classes for the students who are not willing to attend classes offline. Notably, offline classes for students of Class 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th, coaching institutes and institutes for higher studies were allowed in September.
According to the Delhi government order, schools will have to ensure that classes are conducted in a hybrid mode which means online classes will continue.
Private schools too are preparing to resume offline classes after Diwali. Schools are in the process of sending out consent forms to parents.
MRG School, Rohini said it is "waiting for staff readiness" with both doses of vaccination. Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh said it will reopen after Diwali. Other private schools that will reopen after Diwali are DAV Public School, Pushpanjali Enclave, Indian School and Bal Bharti School, Pitampura, among others.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in its guidelines asked schools in the city to ensure mandatory thermal screening of students and staff, staggered lunch breaks, alternate seating arrangements and avoiding routine guest visits. It also said that all the staff must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
It said that students, teachers, and non-teaching staff living in Covid containment zones will not be allowed to come to schools and colleges. It has also been said that the area being used for activities like ration distribution and vaccination should be separated from the area that will be used for academic activities.
Schools in Delhi were ordered to shut last year in March ahead of a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the pandemic. While several states started partially reopening schools in October last year, the Delhi government allowed physical classes only for classes 9-12 in January this year, which were again suspended following the exponential rise in COVID-19 cases during the second wave.
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