Delhi / Delhi schools to open for all classes at 50% capacity from Monday

New Delhi: The Delhi government announced on Wednesday that all schools in the national capital will reopen for all on-campus classes from November 1. However, parents will not be forced to send their children to attend physical classes, the Aam Aadmi Party-led government added.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Delhi's deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said, “Experts suggested that no parent will be forced to send their children to school. All schools will have to ensure that classes take place in hybrid mode with a max of 50% strength in classrooms.”

Sisodia also said that schools have to ensure that all their staff, whether teaching or non-teaching, have received at least one dose of the vaccine against Covid-19, adding, the second dose should be administered as soon as possible.

The deputy chief minister reiterated his point that parents will not be forced to send their wards to school and online classes will go on. “Parents consent is a must for attending physical classes,” he further said during the briefing.

The above decision was taken a day after the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) panel recommended on Tuesday that schools should be reopened for students of classes 6 to 8 with 50% strength.

Amid an improvement in the overall pandemic situation, the Delhi government in September allowed reopening schools in a phased manner. Initially, schools reopened for classes 9 to 12 from September 1.

Schools were also set to resume for classes 6 to 8 from September 8. However, the reopening did not take place. Lieutenant governor Anil Baijal said on September 29 that a decision to resume physical lectures for students of the above classes will be taken after the festival season.

Delhi has so far recorded 1,439,671 cases, 25,091 deaths, 1,414,257 recoveries and 323 active cases due to the coronavirus disease. On Tuesday, 41 cases and 25 recoveries were recorded while no patient succumbed to the viral disease.

During Wednesday's press conference, deputy chief minister Sisodia also announced that Chhath puja will be permitted in accordance with strict Covid-19 norms. “This (Puja) will be done with very strict protocols at the spots decided by the government beforehand,” Sisodia added.