After 10 months, govt schools in Delhi reopen for Class 10 and 12 students with Covid-19 precautions

In the view of board examinations to be conducted this year, the Delhi government gave its go-ahead to schools for resuming classes for Class 10 and Class 12 students in the national capital. Schools and colleges have been closed since March after the coronavirus outbreak in the country. As a result, starting today, government schools across Delhi have opened and resumed classes (physically) for students belonging to higher classes. Delhi’s Education Minister Manish Sisodia held a meeting with officials in the education department in order to review the preparation and on Sunday and took to Twitter to announce that the schools are set to reopen. “All preparations — sanitisers, masks, social distancing —are in place,” the minister tweeted.

While government schools in the city are geared up to resume classes, many private schools have announced that they will be needing a few more days for preparation before they open their doors to Class 10 and Class 12 students, a report by The Indian Express noted. Some schools had already announced that they will not be opening schools on Monday as that needs more time to prepare everything required in line with the COVID-19 protocols. Some schools are also in the process of taking consent from parents so that students can come to school. It is to note that attendance has been made optional in schools and the school management will need to take consent from parents before their kids start attending classes in school.

Citing Ashok Pandey, director of Ahlcon group of schools, the report said that once the consent process is completed—how to accommodate and the number of classes needed—we will decide. In Sangam Vihar’s Hari Vidya Bhavan school, while 90 per cent of parents have signed the consent form, the school will still reopen on Wednesday just to ensure that all guidelines and precautions pertaining to Coronavirus transmission are in place.

Meanwhile, government schools have begun classes. On the first day back to school after a long COVID-induced shut, all SOPs regarding the Coronavirus infection seems to be in place in government schools. According to a tweet by ANI, Lady Irwin Senior Secondary School began the day with thermal screening of every student/ staff entering the school vicinity. Students have been directed to keep their masks on and carry a sanitiser. Sharing lunch and water is not promoted. Similarly in Kusum Shahwalia, SKV No-3, students have been asked to strictly adhere to the social distancing protocols. Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya No-3 in Delhi, on the other hand, has been decorated with balloons and teachers welcomed their students by showering flower petals on them to mark the reopening.

To check the functioning and reopening, Delhi’s Deputy CM and Education Minister Manish Sisodia also visited Kautilya Govt Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya.