Delhi schools reopen
In view of the decline in Covid cases, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Friday decided to reopen schools in a phased manner. Classes 9th-12th will reopen from February 7. It said institutions of higher education will also open subject to SoPs & strict adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour. Teachers who aren't vaccinated will not be permitted, it said.
The directive also said that gyms can reopen and duration of night curfew has also been reduced by one hour (between 11 pm & 5 am), sources said.
"All restaurants can now open till 11 pm. All Govt and private offices have been permitted to function at 100% capacity. Gyms and swimming pools to also reopen. Schools will reopen from 7th Feb for std 9-12. Classes for Nursery to std 8 will reopen from 14th Feb. Hybrid classes will continue. Colleges will reopen from Monday, 7th Feb & they'll be asked to discourage online classes & have offline classes," Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.
The number of daily cases in Delhi has been on the decline after touching the record high of 28,867 on January 13. The city had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the ongoing wave of the pandemic. It took just 10 days for daily cases to drop below the 10,000-mark.
In the last DDMA meeting, the Delhi government had recommended 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.
Schools in the city were briefly reopened before being closed again on December 28 last year in view of the third wave of COVID-19 driven by the Omicron variant.
ALSO READ: Delhi reports 2,668 fresh Covid cases today, 11% lower than yesterday
