Classes IX to XII of most schools in Delhi reopened today, February 7, after a long closure due to COVID-19. There are still a few private schools though that are yet to work out details like parents' consent and transport.
On Friday, February 4, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had decided upon reopening schools for classes IX to XII, higher education institutions and coaching centres from February 7 as it was noted that the number of COVID-19 cases were on a decline. From February 14, schools for all other classes, from nursery to Class VIII, will reopen, as per a report in PTI.
Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, shared a tweet in Hindi on Twitter along with pictures of students who were welcomed back in various schools. "Happy to see children back in school again. They also got frustrated. I pray that the need to close schools does not arise again", read the tweet.
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While Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia dropped by a few schools to interact with students. "Delhi schools are finally open now. The splendour is back again with the return of children," he shared in a tweet.
Yet, there are a few private schools in the national capital that are yet to reopen. "We are yet to reopen because there are a lot of modalities. The Board classes are nearing their exams so the attendance is going to be thin. Also, providing transport for students is difficult, so we are still working out the details. We will have a plan in two days," the Vice-Principal of a top private school said, as per a report in PTI.
Delhi has decided to retain parental consent for attending physical classes, though the centre dropped it from its guidelines and left the decision to respective states and Union Territories (UT). The schools are even free to decide upon the number of students who will attend classes, based on their infrastructure and COVID protocols that they need to adhere to.
The DDMA also said that classes in higher educational institutions will only be conducted via offline mode and hence, all colleges have reopened as well.
The Delhi government-run Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) switched back to offline classes, but at Delhi University, online classes are still on.
