Following a marked improvement in the COVID-19 situation in the national capital, the Delhi government is opening the educational institutions from September 1. The decision was taken at the meeting with Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Friday. The DDMA also issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) outlining the precautionary measures to be adopted by these educational institutions to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The schools in Delhi are only reopening for physical classes for students of Classes 9 to 12. No dates for the resumption of classes for other students have been issued before. The school and college authorities will have to set up an emergency quarantine room on the premises for the safety of the students and classes to function at 50% capacity to maintain proper social distancing. All educational institutes will have to make sure that there are no routine guest visits on the premises for the time being. Students and teachers living in containment zones will not be allowed to attending physical classes till the COVID situation in their area improves. The SOP broadly follows the recommendations made by a sub-committee under the DDMA that had submitted a report to the Delhi government, suggesting that schools and colleges, which have been shut since April 9 due to the second wave of Covid infections, be permitted to reopen in phases.
Students are welcoming the decision of the Delhi government to reopen the schools in the national capital as they have been attending online classes for over a year now. Students have not been satisfied with the conduction of online classes are they are not accessible for many students.During the peak of the second wave of the pandemic, Delhi became one of the worst-hit areas with respect to the number of COVID cases.
