Schools in Delhi, Gujarat among other states reopen after extended closure today

Photo for representational purpose. Pic/AFP

Most schools in the national capital reopened on Monday for classes 9 to 12 after a prolonged closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, while some private schools were still working out modalities like consent of parents and transport availability.

Amid the declining number of Covid-19 cases in the city, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had on Friday decided to reopen higher education institutions and coaching centres along with schools for classes 9-12 from February 7. It also decided to reopen schools for students from nursery to Class 8 from February 14.

Children were seen wearing masks as they returned to school. At one private school, students' bags were being sanitised as part of precautionary measures against Covid-19.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal shared on Twitter some photos of children being welcomed at different 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," he tweeted in Hindi.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also visited a few schools and interacted with students.

"Delhi schools are finally open now. The splendour is back again with the return of children," he said in a tweet.

Some private schools did not open on Monday.

"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.

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.

While the Centre has dropped the mandatory parental consent for students to physically attend schools from its guidelines and left it to the states, the Delhi government has decided to continue with it.

There is no cap of 50 per cent student strength and schools are free to decide the number of students based on their infrastructure so that the Covid-19 protocols are followed.

Colleges are also set to reopen from Monday with the DDMA deciding against online classes and saying that higher education will now completely be offline in the national capital.

The Delhi government-run Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have resumed offline classes from Monday, while Delhi University is continuing with online classes.

With the declining rate in COVID-19 cases, the Gujarat government on Monday reopened the schools for classes 1 to 9.

According to the new circular issued by the Gujarat government, offline or in-person education will be run in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). However, online teaching would also continue and students can choose between the two systems.

Jia, a student of class 6 said, "The schools are closing and reopening again and again due to Covid-19. As a result, we are facing a lot of problems. In offline classes, our doubts are solved easily as the teachers are around. We are following Covid-19 protocols in school."

According to the students, the repeated closing and reopening of schools have affected their learning process. Unnati Chaudhary of class 7, of Nishan Higher Secondary School in Ahmedabad, said, "I request the government not to close and reopen school again and again. Please keep the schools offline only. The online classes are also affecting our eyes."

"If the base is half-baked then the students' education future is at stake. This offline teacher and student link shouldn't break for the students' better learning", said a school authority.

Offline or in-person education was suspended for these classes from December 2021 after the infections began to increase rapidly while for classes 10 and 12, the state education department continued with the teaching pattern of both physical and online classes.

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