All schools in Delhi will remain closed till further orders in view of the COVID-19 situation, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, said today. He added that even parents are not in favour of resuming regular classes.
On October 5, the Delhi government had announced all schools in the city-state will stay shut till October 31, when the decision would be reviewed.
The reiteration comes as Delhi experiences a fresh surge in Covid cases. Yesterday, the national capital saw record number of new infections – 4,853. The uptick in local cases has worried people in Delhi, where pollution adds to the threat upcoming winter and laxity during festival season may pose.
“We keep getting feedback from parents that they are really concerned about whether it is safe to reopen schools. It is not (safe to reopen). Wherever schools have reopened, COVID-19 cases among children have risen. So we have decided that as of now schools in Delhi will not reopen. They will continue to be closed till further orders,” Mr Sisodia said in an online address today.
Universities and schools across the country, including Delhi, have remained closed since March 16, when the Central government announced a countrywide shutdown of classrooms as part of measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Besides rise in local cases, the decision also comes in view of states like Mizoram and Karnataka discontinuing regular classes because of a rise in students contracting COVID-19.
Many states, like Delhi, have kept the decision on hold, while some, like UP and Punjab, have starting conducting classes for senior students in batches. Private schools in these states, however, remain shut after parents said no.
Parents’ consent and no compulsion on attendance were among the statutes mentioned in “Unlock 5” guidelines that govern reopening of schools.
