Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Friday announced that schools, colleges and education institutes within the city will open in an exceedingly phased manner from September 1.
“The reasonably education which will be imparted through physical classes can never be substituted by online classes. So, we’ve decided to permit schools to open. From September 1, all government schools will open for classes 9 to 12, all private schools may resume classes for 9 to 12 standards and training centres also can start classes for college students of 9 to 12 standards. All colleges and university classes may also resume in Delhi from September 1,” said Sisodia,also the education minister, during a group discussion at the Delhi secretariat.
Earlier today, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) held a gathering within which the choice was taken, following which a senior DDMA official said that the authority has also given a green signal to the govt. to permit classes 6 to eight to re-open from September 8.
Sisodia said that the govt. will closely observe matters for a minimum of one week after allowing classes 9 to 12 to resume from September 1 before preferring reopening for other classes.
Stressing on consent of oldsters as a compulsory requirement for college kids to attend physical classes, Sisodia said, “Online classes will continue too. Students may also attend from home. Parents’ consent may be a must. No student are often forced to attend physical classes. Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are issued within the next few days. Schools must ensure social distancing in school rooms.”
In five states up to now, schools have resumed for all classes. In around a dozen states, schools have resumed for classes 6 to 12. We too conducted a survey within which 70% respondents were in favour of reopening of colleges,” he said.
He added that 98% of staff – both teaching and non-teaching – in Delhi’s schools have taken a minimum of one dose of Covid-19 vaccine. “In the last month, we organised special drives to vaccinate teachers and college staff. Around 98% teacher and other staff in government schools have taken a minimum of one dose of vaccine. Private schools also told the govt that the bulk of staff is vaccinated,” said Sisodia.
The government didn’t share figures of teachers who are fully vaccinated.
Physical classes at Delhi schools are suspended since March last year within the light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Higher classes reopened for a quick period between January and March this year but were suspended again during the fourth wave of the pandemic in Delhi which coincided with the country’s second wave.
Dr Jacob John, former head of the clinical virology department at Christian Medical College in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore, said: “The SOPs need to be chalked out meticulously, especially because vaccination of kids is yet to start within the country. the govt. could even have started with some schools then taken a invoke all schools. Ensuring social distancing and Covid-19 appropriate behaviour may be a must. Also, the govt must make sure that not just school staff but all members of the family of the scholars attending physical classes are vaccinated.”
