E-Paper
Delhi govt shuts primary classes till March 31
New Delhi:
New Delhi:
To ensure the safety of children in view of the coronavirus outbreak, the Delhi government on Thursday announced the closure of government, private schools, and municipal corporation schools up to primary classes till March 31. All staff members, including teaching and non-teaching, however, will attend school as usual.
“As a precautionary measure to prevent the possibility of spread of Covid-19 among our children, the Delhi government has directed immediate closure of all primary schools (government/aided/ private/MCD/NDMC) till March 31,” deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia tweeted.
The directorate of education (DOE) said the decision was being taken since students of nursery and primary classes were “too young to understand the risks associated with Covid-19.”
“They are more prone to infectious diseases and mingle around with their class fellows more often. It will be good that they must be trained in the dos and don’ts of prevention from Covis-19 under the care and supervision of their parents at their home,” DoE said in a circular.
Students of all other classes will continue to come to schools and examination centres for writing their examinations as per schedule, the DoE added.
“Examination was going on in classes 3-5 and only a few papers were left. For nursery to class 2, teachers were mainly carrying out focussed interventions on those with low-learning levels. But the closure of schools now was a question of safety and security. It will not cause any loss to the academic year,” said Rajiv Kumar, head of school at Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, Daulatpur.
On Wednesday, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said schools had been asked to conduct intensive awareness drives on the dos and don’ts to limit the spread of the virus.
The number of people with the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in India rose sharply to 29 with at least ten being reported from the National Capital Region.
