85% in the 15-18 age group in Delhi’s govt schools have received Covid vaccine: Govt

In a written statement issued on Saturday, the government also said that vaccination in private schools was taking place slowly with only 42% of eligible students have received the vaccine till January 21

Around 85% students of Delhi government schools in the age group of 15-18 years had received the first dose of the vaccine till January 21, the government said on Saturday. While appreciating the speed at which inoculation was being conducted in government schools, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday said that 100% vaccination of students will help the government in making the shift from ongoing online education to offline classes. He said that a proposal for the reopening of schools could be placed before the DDMA.

The Directorate of Education (DoE) has set a target of 100% vaccination till January 30. In a circular issued to schools on Saturday, DoE said that out of 8,07, 738 eligible students of government schools, 6, 80, 210, had been already vaccinated which was roughly 84.21%. (AP File)

“In 12 out of the 15 education districts, 85% students of Delhi government schools have been vaccinated and there are about 300 schools where 90% eligible students have got the jab,” said Sisodia, who holds the education portfolio. He said that vaccination was key for combatting covid and called for all eligible students to be vaccinated at the earliest. “Now that the covid cases are declining considerably and most of the students in higher classes have been inoculated, a proposal may be placed before DDMA for reopening of schools,” he added.

In a written statement issued on Saturday, the government also said that vaccination in private schools was taking place slowly with only 42% of eligible students have received the vaccine till January 21. “Except East Delhi district, private schools have failed to achieve even 50% vaccination coverage. Private schools have about 3.5 lakh eligible students for COVID vaccination, but not even 2 lakhs have been vaccinated till date. Even aided schools haven’t fared well. So far only 57% of students have been vaccinated in aided schools,” the government said.

The Directorate of Education (DoE) has set a target of 100% vaccination till January 30. In a circular issued to schools on Saturday, DoE said that out of 8,07, 738 eligible students of government schools, 6, 80, 210, had been already vaccinated which was roughly 84.21%. The DoE added that 1,27, 528 students of government schools in the eligible category were yet to be vaccinated.

The department also underlined that vaccination of the entire eligible student population was vital to any proposal of reopening of schools. It directed officials to persuade private schools to amp their vaccination efforts for achieving the 100% vaccination goal since they were lagging behind, the DoE said.

“Heads of these schools may be contacted personally and through the zonal DDEs and authentic data may be obtained from them so that we have accurate numbers of the vaccinated and the remaining students of these schools to work on,” the DoE stated in its circular.

Sudha Acharya, chairperson of the National Progressive School’s Conference, which has over 120 private Delhi schools as its members, admitted that private schools needed to accelerate their vaccination efforts.

“While our school and some others have achieved around 80% vaccination, there are other schools that need to amplify their efforts to increase their vaccination numbers. Various reasons could be behind the lag in vaccinations. Some parents are hesitant while other schools are not able to put their full efforts due to school closure. Collectively we all are trying to vaccinate our student population so that schools can be reopened at the earliest,” said Acharya, principal of ITL Public School, Dwarka.

Bharat Arora, general secretary, Action Committee of Unaided Private Schools, a consortium of schools, said that more than 60% of eligible students in private schools had been vaccinated and sough that schools are reopened. “Private schools in Delhi have been very proactive in organising vaccination camps and awareness sessions to achieve maximum vaccination of eligible students. The entire school fraternity is working tirelessly to support the government in achieving 100% vaccination target. Some schools have already achieved 85-90% vaccination target. The government should reopen schools since students have been facing major learning losses for around two years now,” said Arora.