Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia on Wednesday sounded positive about the reopening of schools in the capital. He said that 'excessive caution can harm children', which is why reopening of schools is necessary to prevent further damage to the socio-emotional well being of students.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has called a meeting on Thursday to deliberate on easing the curbs in the national capital in view of the improved situation of COVID-19. The issue of reopening schools is also on the agenda.
"In the past two years, school children's lives have been confined to their rooms. Instead of going to schools and spending time in playgrounds, all their activities now take place only on mobile phones.
"The pandemic-induced school closures have not only affected their studies but also their mental health. During COVID, our priority was children's safety. But since various researches have now found that COVID is not so harmful to kids, it is important to reopen the schools, as now is the time for exams and related preparations," Sisodia said.
Delhi Covid restrictions to be lifted
On Tuesday, CM Arvind Kejriwal had also said that soon, Covid curbs in the national capital will be lifted. He said that a traders' body met with him, and expressed a wish to remove weekend curfew and the norm to operate shops on an odd-even basis.
Presently, there is a night curfew, and a weekend curfew (from Friday 10 pm to Monday 5 am) in place.
Earlier today, a delegation of parents led by Chandrakant Lahariya, an epidemiologist and public policy specialist, met Sisodia and submitted a memorandum signed by over 1,600 parents demanding that the schools be reopened.
"Why we are the last among major countries to decide on this? I agree with their demands. A generation of children will be left behind if we do not open our schools now," added Sisodia.
After being briefly reopened, schools in Delhi were again closed on December 28 last year in view of the third wave of COVID-19 driven by the Omicron variant.
(With PTI Inputs)
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